


That Boy is a Goddamn Problem

by orphan_account



Series: Dangerous Love [1]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Abuse, Alternate Universe, Angst, Cheating, Crimes & Criminals, Depression, Drama, Falling In Love, Family, Forbidden Love, Gallavich, Gang Violence, Gangs, Gun Violence, M/M, Secret Relationship, Sex, Sexual Tension, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Slurs, Some Fluff, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-20 00:22:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 30
Words: 67,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12421224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: "I'm no good for you, Ian. I'm a fucking criminal! Don't you get that? I've killed people. I don't like it but I have. I'm too dangerous for you. This right here, you and me, is too fucking dangerous. I told you before and I'm going to keep telling you until you start to get it;  we can't happen."





	1. Feeling Alive Again

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all! So this story is going to be different than what I normally write- trying something new! I hope you all enjoy and please feel free to leave any feedback, comments, etc.!
> 
>  
> 
> **Warning**
> 
> This chapter includes talks of suicidal thoughts. If you are struggling with depression, you are not alone. Stay strong. ❤

_You ever feel like you're drowning? Like you can't make it out of the world's bullshit, constantly sinking you to the bottom. You keep screaming and screaming, waiting for just one person to look up. No one ever does, though._

_You ever feel like you are completely alone? You're standing in the center of the city, people rushing by and pacing through the days of their miserable lives. You look from side to side, overwhelmed by it all. But somehow you still feel completely alone._

_If you answered 'yes' to any of this, I'm sorry. I can relate to each and every scenario which is why I'm writing this. You deserve more. You deserve love. You deserve life. You do. But I do not. And I'm sorry. If you're reading this, just know that there are ways to cope. There are ways to heal. There are ways to get help._

_This time, no one could save me. And that's my fault. But I just wanted whoever was reading this to know I carry comfort in knowing I won't be hurting anymore. Please send this letter to my family if this ever gets found. The address is at the bottom._

_And lastly, to my family. I love you all and I know you may not understand this right now. No one saw it coming. No one ever does. So please don't blame yourselves. This is all me. This disease has taken over me. I can't even properly function anymore without being heavily medicated and that's a life that I just can't live anymore. Being bipolar or having severe depression never defined me. But it took me and pulled me under too deeply this time._

_Stay strong and know that I will always be with you all._

_Love Always,_

_Ian._

Ian held the letter close to his face, reading over it one last time. He was sitting on the edge of a bridge the stood over a body of water. The cool breeze from the water below his dangling feet felt nice on his face. It was the first week of December, and Chicago never felt colder.

His red hair started to blow with the wind when he suddenly remembered he promised Carl he would help him cut his hair tomorrow for ROTC. The thought of it started stinging in his heart. He felt his eyes starting to water and he let his head drop, eyes focusing on the glistening water. There was no point in trying to stop the tears from streaming down his face now. 

His right hand was holding on to the beam next to him and he started shifting forward, just barely though. He wondered what was going to happen after. Dying was inevitable and it happened to everyone at some point. But dying wasn't the scary part. It's what came after, the unknown, that scared the shit out of him.

He looked behind him. It was late at night on a Tuesday so he wasn't surprised to not see many people out. But there were still some people driving by or walking past him, never taking a second glance. 

His body was numb from the Lithium, one of the feelings he felt daily that sucked his soul from his body. He didn't want to feel anymore. Another tear rolling down his cheek.

_This is it. _He thought to himself before taking in a deep breath. He slowly started to scooch forward, body trembling. One last look ahead to see the beautiful Chicago lights. It made him sick. Nothing about his life was ever beautiful.__

__Just as he was about to let go, he heard gun shots from down the street and a car screeching its tires into a burnout. He quickly looked back and didn't see the chaos yet, but he could surely hear it._ _

__He was waiting for the madness to pass him by before he jumped, but it must have passed to the opposite side of him because the sound of the car drifted away just as he was about to._ _

_Don't pussy out. Fucking do it already._ He shook his head trying to clear the thoughts out of his head. Again, he took one last major inhale and shut his eyes. His grip loosening as he leaned forward. This was it. Nothing flashed before his eyes. There were no bright lights. No memories playing in his head like a cheesy movie montage. Just darkness and loneliness. Until suddenly he realized he wasn't alone. 

__"I told you not to do that fuckin burn out you dumb shit! Yeah I fucking know I jumped out of the car. No I'm not trying to get my ass thrown back into the joint on account of you being brainless. Shit fuck! I'll call you back!" The man on the phone said before hanging up and racing towards the redhead who was letting himself dip down forward off of the bridge._ _

__He made it just in time to grab on to the redhead's arm, who grabbed him back while dangling off the ledge. Terror shot across Ian's eyes as realization struck him with what he was about to do. Ian gripped this person's arm hanging on for dear life while trying to pull himself up._ _

__"Fuck! I got you man I got you! Hold on!" The guy yelled in fear of his grip from Ian slipping._ _

__The guy mustered up every ounce of strength he had to tug hard before finally pulling the redhead up over the ledge. Ian fell on top of his savior and stared into his ice blue eyes that looked just as terrified, if not more, than his own._ _

__They both heavily panted, not moving their gaze from one another. The freezing air filling their lungs feeling like it was cutting the inside of their throats. The man underneath him finally spoke._ _

__"Jesus dude, you scared the shit outta me."_ _

__Ian just kept staring at him still in shock; slowly trying to take in what the fuck just happened. The man below him slowly ran his hand through his black hair. Ian noticed his knuckles on his hand read the word 'Fuck'. And although this was without a doubt the most fucked up moment of his entire life, he rolled off the man landing on to his back and couldn't help but burst out into laughter. He truly felt that he was going insane._ _

__The man below sat up to stare at the delusional redhead before him. He furrowed his brow at Ian and questioned, "The fuck could possibly be so funny right now?"_ _

__His laughter started to ease up and he continued to look up at the night sky, seeing his own breath from how cold it was. "I just can't believe that I thought I was going to jump off the fucking bridge. Thought no one was going to even see me. Then you come outta no where like fucking Batman out of the shadows and pull my sorry ass up. The only thought that could even go through my mind was 'fuck'. And then I look down at your hand there and what do I see? Fuck!"_ _

__Ian started laughing even harder and the man couldn't tell what he should be doing at this moment. Ian's laughter then started to turn to crying in hysterics fully aware of everything that just occurred. The man sniffed, still unsure how he should approach the situation, and out his 'Fuck' hand on Ian's shoulder._ _

__"It's cool. Everything's cool, okay? Shit happens." He said. He removed his hand from Ian's shoulder to reach into his pocket to pull out a box of cigarettes. He lit one up, inhaled, and handed it over to Ian. Ian looked up, stopping the hysterics, and looked at the cigarette like it was a foreign object before slowly taking it from his savior._ _

__"I've uh.. never smoked before." Ian admitted feeling embarassed when the man next to him chuckled._ _

__"Probably shouldn't start now, then."_ _

__Ian looked at it thoroughly before putting it in his mouth and inhaling. It felt like tiny knives scraping down his throat to his lungs and he couldn't take it anymore. He choked and blew out the smoke before having a coughing fit. The man started laughing and grabbed the cigarette back from Ian's hand._ _

__"That's what you get! I fuckin told you so." The man said, inhaling the smoke and exhaling out his nose._ _

__Ian liked the way it looked when he did that. He moved his eyes away from the man and onto the corner of the letter the was coming out of his jean pocket, suddenly starting to feel numb again._ _

__"So you got a name, Red?"_ _

__"Ian. Ian Gallagher." He said still looking down._ _

__"Nice to meet you, Ian Gallagher. Name's Mickey."_ _

__Realization struck Ian's face when he realized he recognized Mickey. "Milkovich?" He questioned._ _

__"Who's fuckin asking?"_ _

__"Well..um.. me?" Ian said, very intimidated by Mickey._ _

__Mickey's eyes softened. "Yeah that's me. Your brother used to date my sister back in the day, I think."_ _

__"Yeah that's what I was going to say I knew you from. I didn't really know Mandy and that was years ago but she had been over a few times saying how she had to leave early to visit her brother Mickey, you, in the pokey. Put 2 and 2 together when I saw your knuckle tattoos and you said your name. I remember her saying how she thought your tattoos were lame." Ian softly laughed at the memory._ _

__"Yeah well she's a fuckin bitch so that's that. And clearly she has poor taste in art." Mickey teased holding up his knuckles together so Ian could see the entire 'Fuck U-Up'. He smiled light and checked his phone. 3 missed calls from Fiona. He looked over at Mickey who immediately looked away trying to hide that he was staring at the redhead._ _

__"Thanks Mickey. I don't know what would have happened to me if you hadn't gotten here in time." Ian said, heart aching at the thought of wanting to take his own life._ _

__Mickey exhaled more smoke out and nodded. "Try to stay away from bridges from now on. Got it?" He smiled warmly at Ian._ _

__For the first time, Ian felt that warmth. It felt like electricity flowing through his body. It made him feel..alive again. He smiled back at Mickey and started to turn around to head home. He could feel those piercing blue eyes on the backside of him and he couldn't help but smile. He hoped he would meet his hero again. He had finally given Ian hope. With that, Ian pulled the letter out of his pocket and tossed it to the ground._ _

__When Ian was out of Mickey's sight, Mickey walked over to where the redhead dropped the letter. He quickly retrieved it and read the words. His heart hurt for Ian, not realizing people actually felt this way. His heart fluttered when he read the bottom of the letter.__

__

__  
_ _

_Love Always,_

_Ian._

_Send to my home address:  
4404 South Wallace. Chicago, IL. _

____

____

__He put the letter in his pocket and pulled out his ringing phone._ _

__"Jesus Joey, I told you I'd call you back. I had uh shit to take care of. Anyone see you guys?"_ _

__"No one saw us, Mick. Everything went according to plan." Joey answered._ _

__"Alright I'll meetcha back at the place." And Mickey hung up. He started heading to his home, feeling butterflies in his stomach from meeting Ian earlier. He wasn't one to get this way about anyone ever, but something about Ian made him feel alive._ _


	2. I Need a Hero

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning**
> 
> This chapter includes sexual assault.

Ian woke up the next morning on his bedroom floor, bottle of whiskey still in hand and eyes puffy from crying the night before. He sat up, head pounding, and walked past the piled up boxes in his room. He sighed at the sight and headed towards the bathroom to wash off the shitty memories from yesterday. Once he got out, he noticed his phone ringing.

"Hey Jennifer." He answered while trying to put on his clothes.

"Hey! You missed movie night last night. I texted you like a bunch of times but you didn't answer so I was worried all night."

Ian's heart dropped. She had no idea how he felt and it made him feel even worse. Jennifer was his best friend. He felt awful for keeping her in the dark but he didn't want to draw any more attention to his problems. She accepted him and loved him for who he is. She never left his side even when shit hit the fan a few years ago when Ian first discovered he had Bipolar and severe depression. Ian felt that Jennifer deserved to know, but he was too ashamed to tell her.

 

**********************************************

 

The first time they met was two years ago when Jennifer got a job as a bartender at the club Ian had worked at. He was a dancer and she thought he was gorgeous. She didn't drool over him like the rest of the people did who came in to the club but she saw that he really shined up on stage. He had a great personality and never came in to work in a bad mood even if he had the worst day.

It had been a week since she started and she happened to be on the same schedule he was so far. It was just after last call and she gathered her things to leave. She did very well at the bar as, she too, was drop dead gorgeous. She could be a model with her perfect olive toned skin, sky blue eyes, mahogany colored hair that was down to the middle of her back, and of course the guys loved her for her curvy body.

She had been wearing the uniform that the female bartenders were made to wear. It was fishnets, heeled boots, a black leather mini skirt, and a crop top that read 'Divine', the name of the bar, across it. Jennifer walked out of the club to head towards the L when she noticed she was being followed. 

She looked back to see three middle aged men walking a bit of distance away behind her. She rolled her eyes at them as she could tell they were trashed and looked sleazy. She kept walking, longing to finally take the boots off from her six hour shift that she had been standing on her feet for.

She looked back again to see the men were getting closer, stumbling towards her. She started to get nervous and picked up her pace a bit.

"Where ya goin' sweetie?" One of the men called to her. 

"Why don't you come party with us, sexy." Another one said.

She ignored them and quickly decided to run, cutting through the alley way to her left. When she ran into the center of the alley she noticed it was a dead. She started to crouch behind the dumpster in hopes that the men would keep going. Her lip quivered when her hopes were suddenly crushed watching the scum bags enter the alley.

She was peeping at them through the opening of the side of the dumpster, completely horrified and just wanting to go home. One of them whistled as if they were whistling to an animal.

"Here kitty, kitty. Come out, come out where ever you are." The men started to laugh, clearly having bad intentions. A rat squeaked next to her foot causing her to jump up and gasp. 

"There she is! Come here, baby. We won't bite. Hard." The scumbag said. He took a step toward her and she kneed him hard in the groin causing him to drop to his knees in pain. 

"Fucking cunt!" He yelled out in pain. One of the other men pulled out a switch blade and held it out in front of himself. She stared at him in fear and tried to run past him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into his arms. The man held the blade up to her throat.

"Fiesty one. Classy broads don't walk around the South side of Chicago in skimpy outfits like yours unless they're working the corner. So, are you ready to work me?" He threatened and started groping her breasts. She screamed and covered her mouth with the same hand that was holding the knife.

Before he got any lower than her midsection, another man appeared in the opening of the alley. "What the fuck do you pieces of shit think you're doing to her?!" The man said to them, pulling out his gun and cocking it.

The men quickly threw their hands up, including the fucking pig who was on Jennifer, indicating not to shoot. 

"Take it easy, man. We thought she was a hooker. Our mistake. We're leaving now." One of them said.

The man with the gun pointed it right at the guy's head. "Hooker or not, you don't fucking force people. You're fucking lucky that I'm feeling forgiving tonight otherwise I'd normally spill your fucking brains all over the pavement. Now fucking leave and pray to whatever God you believe in that I don't catch you in my sights again." He said through gritted teeth and pure rage.

Jennifer's eyes widened in awe at the mystery man who just saved her from God only knows what..

When the disgusting men ran out of the alley, the man who saved her stepped forward revealing himself. It was Ian. She ran right into his arms and sobbed. He wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"I can't think you enough.." She choked out through tears.

He held the embrace, "Don't even worry. It's the right thing to do."

She looked up at him and smiled. She was relieved that was wasn't one of the pigs who she dealt with on a day to day basis trying to get in her pants. "I'm Jennifer. I think you work at Divine with me, right? I bartend."

His eyes lit up, "Yes! You threw that drink in that guy's face the other night for trying to cop a feel! I fucking admired you for that so much. He deserves more than a drink in his face."

She giggled and nodded, bowing. "I'm Ian by the way."

And ever since that night, they'd been inseparable. 

 

***********************************************

 

"Ian are you there? Hello?" He heard Jennifer continuing when he realized he'd spaced out during their phone call.

"Uh yeah. Yes. I'm here." Ian answered.

"I just asked if you needed help moving the rest of your shit to your apartment or are you set with Lip?" She asked.

"Yeah Lip has it since we moved most of it yesterday."

"Awesome. I'll be by tonight to see how fucking adorable it looks with your shit finally moved in and then we can head to the club. Which speaking of that, I really don't feel like going tonight. I just wanna call out and stay in my Pjs and drink all the wine."

Ian chuckled, also wishing he could stay in tonight and drink 'all the wine' with her. 

"Rich would kill you. You've called out like 3 times this month."

"Yeah but they were all emergencies and Rich is the shit. He never says anything to me about it."

"Okay one, period cramps are definitely not emergencies. Two, Rich is not the shit. He's the biggest douche I've ever worked for. And three, he's only nice to you because he wants to get in your pants."

"Again.." Jennifer confessed and Ian clicked his tongue.

"What? He's cute okay!" She tried defending herself but could feel Ian already shaking his head through the phone. She knew that's what his reaction would be as she knew him like the back of her hand.

"Jesus. Alright well I'm gonna go move my shit now that you traumatized my innocent thoughts with the images of you porking our douchebag boss."

"Innocent my ass. See you tonight boo boo." 

Ian shook his head and hung up the phone. She always had a pet name for him and he didn't hate it unless he was around a hot guy. Then it was just embarrassing. 

He sat on his bed in his soon-to-be old room. He laid down, waiting for Lip to get home to help him move the rest of his stuff. He shut his eyes, starting to fall asleep. As he did, his dreams filled with his hero from last night. Those piercing blue eyes staring at him made his whole body feel electric, even in his dreams. 

He was woken up the sound of his bedroom door slamming shut. Startling him from his light slumber, he sat up abruptly in his bed. 

"Jesus Lip! You can never be subtle. Always gotta make sure everyone knows you're here." Ian said in aggravation. 

"Yeah pretty much." Lip removed the cigarette from his mouth and put it out on the run down wall next to Ian's bed. Ian looked over at the spot to see that was definitely not the first time Lip's done that there. Ian rolled his eyes. 

"So we getting this shit out or are we gonna fucking kumbaya all day?" Lip asked which just aggravated Ian even more. 

He got up off the bed and started to move the remainder of his things to Lip's truck. 

********************************************* 

It had been 5:00 at night already and Jennifer hadn't showed yet. He had been moved in for three hours now and had everything organized for the most part. His apartment was small; a one bedroom but the bathroom was huge. It was kind of a dive, but it did the job giving him a roof over his head and not having to live at home anymore. He was only 23, but he wanted to get out. He needed his space. He walked into his massive bathroom and stood there for a few moments deep in thought. 

_Jesus I should just sleep in the tub._ He thought to himself. 

His thoughts interrupted by his phone vibrating. It was a text from Jennifer. 

Jennifer (5:11PM): Hey babe sorry I'm a little late. Shit with Jason. Coming now so 

Ian (5:12PM): Thought you were done with him. 

Jennifer (5:12PM): Everything is fine please drop it. 

Ian contemplated responding back to her. He went with his gut not being able to 'just drop it'. 

Ian (5:15PM): He hits you Jennifer.... He doesn't deserve you. 

Ian got the hint that she didn't want to talk about it when she didn't answer after that. He hated her on again off again boyfriend, Jason. He abused her and she'd try to hide it. Ian picked up on it rather quickly and since then, he hated Jason. 

His thoughts interrupted by another text. 

Jennifer (5:37PM): I'm here. Buzz me in loser. 

Ian obliged and buzzed her in anticipating it would take her a few minutes as he lived on the third floor of his sketchy new apartment building. He opened the door to low and behold Jennifer with a black eye semi covered with makeup. 

"Jenn-" 

"Ian please. I don't want to talk about it okay? I just wanna celebrate my boo boo getting his first apartment! Which by the way I'm pretty sure there were needles down the hall.." 

He wrapped his arms around her to bring her in for a hug. He laughed. "I wouldn't even doubt it. The neighbors are nice at least. I only met one lady who lives next to me one door down. She was goth or something but super nice." Ian said. 

Jennifer grinned and raised an eyebrow, "So show me your red room, Mr. Grey." 

"Jesus fuck. I told you those 50 Shades of Grey books were poisoning that beautiful mind of yours." 

"Maybe a little." She chuckled and he showed her the apartment. 

******************************************** 

The club was busy tonight especially for a night in the middle of the week. Jennifer was kicking ass behind the bar per usual, holding the team on her back. They would seriously be screwed without her. And Ian was up on stage drawing people as he usually did. Jennifer looked up from the bar to look at the stage and see Ian looking like a Chip and Dales dances. She chuckled and went back to slinging drinks. 

Bobby, one of the dancers swayed next to Ian. "That guy's here again requesting you by name. Rich told me to tell you." Bobby tried to tell Ian non chalantly so the customers couldn't tell they were talking. He nodded and hopped off stage swiftly. He walked over to the man who was requesting him. He had to be 35ish but Ian thought he was attractive and he had a lot of money so he didn't care much also not caring how shallow that made him. 

"This is the third night this week you've been looking for me, Chris." Ian said with a devilish grin already knowing he wanted a lap dance, pushing him back into the chair. Chris had dark brown hair, always slicked back. His eyes were hazel and he had tattoos that covered both arms and hands. Tonight he was wearing black pants with a leather jacket and Ian had to admit the man looked pretty sexy. 

"If you'd just give me your number already then I wouldn't have to keep coming back to only tall to you here now would I?" Chris challenged, flashing him a 50 and slipping it into the front of his shorts. 

Ian began his lap dance, ignoring Chris subtly asking for his number. He started slowly grinding on the man, knowing exactly what he liked. Ian started to to raise an eyebrow when he felt Chris' growing erection underneath him. He rubbed his body down on Him a bit harder to drive him really crazy. Ian started getting turned on, himself, by watching the faces Chris was making. 

After the lap dance finished, Ian got up to go back on stage when Chris grabbed his hand and held his gaze for a moment. Chris released his grip and walked towards the exit. Ian felt something in his hand, opening it to see Chris gave him a note. 

_You want a real man to show you a good time?_

_Call me. You won't regret it._

_-Chris_

Ian felt his cock twitch when reading the note. He definitely needed to get laid especially after the shit he's been going through. He put the note in his shorts and decided he'd give Chris a call when his shift ended in an hour. He grinned at the thought and turned to head back to the stage. 

He felt more eyes on him so he turned his head hoping to catch their gaze and make some more money. Through the strobe lights flashing with the beat of the music, he could only see bright blue eyes staring in his direction and his heart raced. The strobing stopped and he saw it was definitely Mickey. 

Ian tried to push through the crowd to meet him but when he made his way over to where Mickey was standing, he was gone. Ian looked around the club trying to find him but he wasn't there. Ian sighed, cursing his imagination for playing tricks on him. He walked back to the stage and couldn't help but wonder if it was a hallucination or if Mickey was actually there, watching him.


	3. Visitor

The early morning light entered through the curtain in Chris' room. Ian slowly opened his eyes, taking in the still-alien location. This was his tenth night in a row staying over since the night at the club. Chris was very forward with Ian telling him that once he let Ian in, he was in. Ian liked that Chris was possessive. It strangely turned him on and made him crave more. Ian felt complacent with Chris, but never fully satisfied. 

He lightly removed Chris' arm that was wrapped tightly around his waist and sat up to quietly put on his clothes and leave. He'd been doing this everyday because although he really enjoyed Chris' company, he wasnt sure if he was ready for a relationship yet. He had never been in in relationship before and the thought of jumping in to one after only meeting the man two weeks ago and sleeping with him for ten days out of the two weeks terrified him. 

His phone vibrated in his pocket and his eyes shot over to Chris to make sure he didn't hear anything or wake up. To Ian's relief, there was no movement coming from the sleeping man other than his loud mouth breathing that Ian hated. He looked down at his phone.

Jennifer (6:11AM): I'm here per your request last night. Sorry I'm a half hour late. And you fucking owe me for scooping you up at the ass crack of dawn every day this week by the way.

He tip-toed to to the bedroom door, peeping back one last time at the man sound asleep, and left the room. The house was immaculate and huge for only one person which made Ian really question what kind of job Chris actually had. He told Ian he worked in sales but he didn't really buy it. With a house like this, how could he? 

He quietly walked down the hall that had a total of four bedrooms, two on each side of the hall, and headed for the stair case. All of the bedroom doors were always shut which he felt a sense of relief in case Chris was lying about living alone. He made it to the front door and stopped to take in his surroundings one last time. 

The walls were painted a beautiful cream color and had modern paintings hanging up along most of the walls. The hardwood floors that he stood on chilled the bottom of his feet with it being December and the heat did not seem to be turned on. He looked over to another room that had a fire place below a giant flat screen TV. He looked to the opposite side, nearing behind the stair case to see the most beautiful kitchen that he's ever laid his eyes on. He was always gawking at the beauty of the man's kitchen. 

It looked like something straight out of a catalog with the granite counter tops and the island with pots and pans hanging over the center if it. The fridge looked like he could literally fit and sleep inside of it. The cabinets all a dark mahogany color similar to Chris' hair color. He couldn't help but stand in awe at the home. There were even more rooms and a door leading down to the basement, but Ian decided he'd felt enough jealousy before venturing back to his shit hole apartment. 

He sighed at the thought of it and turned back to the door. He heard movement coming from upstairs and decided to open the front door as quickly and quietly as possibly to get out of there. When he turned the knob he nearly screamed to see that someone else was trying to open the door at the same time. He took a step back to let the person enter. Ian's heart raced at the thought of this person questioning what he was doing at Chris' home so early. He braced himself as the person entered and his heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. The visitor looked over to the room with the fireplace first and then to the other side to find Ian staring at him in terror when he recognized those very blue eyes staring back at him

 

"Ian Gallagher?" Mickey questioned, very confused. 

Ian blinked a few times, standing still in embarrassment. He felt like he was under some spell and literally could not move his body. Mickey dropped his gaze from Ian's eyes slowly down to his feet. Mickey sniffed.

"Forgot to button and zip your jeans. Also it's colder than balls out there so you might want to reconsider putting your shoes back on." Mickey said bluntly. 

Ian's eyes widened and he looked down to see Mickey was right. He forgot to zip up and button his jeans. His face flushed, now very embarrassed. He slowly looked up, eyes moving up Mickey's body. He was wearing a fitted black t-shirt with dark fitted jeans that hugged him in all the right areas. His black dress shoes shined like a new penny and Ian noticed a small tattoo on the side of his wrist. He couldn't determine what it was of as he didn't want Mickey to see him staring, so he quickly moved his gaze back to Mickey's eyes. Ian's mouth watered at how fucking delicious the man infront of him looked.

Mickey broke the gaze and shut the door behind him after glancing out at the mysterious car that was outside waiting for Ian. "That your ride out there?" Mickey questioned. 

"No.. I mean yes! I mean.. no .. well yes but-"

"Jesus, Gallagher. I make you that nervous?" Mickey teased interrupting his rambling and raising an eyebrow. Fuck, Ian wanted him right then and there. 

Ian felt his face become even more red and he quickly changed the subject, "So uh.. why are you here?"

"Could definitely ask you the fucking same question." Mickey teased, chuckling. 

"Oh um, me and Chris we're uh, well we're just-"

"Fucking?" Mickey answered for him. Ian froze, not knowing what to say. He didn't even know if Mickey was gay, but he didn't want to admit that he was fucking the man who Mickey was visiting the house of at six in the morning. Before Ian could say anything, Mickey spoke.

"Hey it's cool. Love is love and all that shit, right? You should be able to fuck who you want without anyone saying shit about it." Mickey answered and Ian's heart dropped. 

He hoped that by some sort of lucky star, Mickey was gay but after him saying that, Ian doubted he was. He could swear he felt it the night Mickey tried saving him, and even now looking at him the way he was. Ian guessed his life was just never meant to allow him happiness. A tinge of sadness struck his face and Mickey noticed.

"So how are you, man? I mean it's really fucking weird to see you here and I honestly thought I'd never see you again after.. that night... Are things getting any better?" Mickey asked with caring eyes.

Ian shrugged. "I guess so. It's not a light switch that I can switch on and off when I want to. I get really low sometimes but I've never done anything like that before. Thanks again for saving me."

"Don't mention it. It was the right thing to do." Mickey said and stared into Ian's eyes. Ian's body got that electric tingly feeling. He quickly brushed it off, knowing he never had a chance with the man.

"So you never did tell me why you're here?" Ian questioned, wanting to change the subject. 

"None of your fuckin business is why I'm here." Mickey said lightly, giving him a smile so Ian knew he wasn't being completely abrasive. 

Ian's phone buzzed, breaking the awkward silence that fell and he looked at his phone.

Jennifer (6:36AM): You almost ready? The jeep's eating my gas. And tell that motherfucker who came in to move his Evo. He literally parked behind me. Fucking privileged prick.

Ian's brow furrowed. _Did Mickey do that on purpose?_ He wondered when he thought back to a few minutes ago when Mickey asked if Ian's ride was waiting outside. If he knew his ride was out there then why did be park in the way? _Maybe he is a douche._ Ian thought. 

"You mind moving your car so my friend and I can leave?" Ian asked, trying to observe Mickey's reaction. 

Mickey wiggled his eyebrows. "That's what she gets for parking in my goddamn spot." Yup. Definitely had a tinge of douchebag in his blood.

Ian rolled his eyes and put his shoes on to follow Mickey out of the house to the car. Ian's eyes widened at how nice Mickey's car was. It was a shiny, black Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution. It looked brand new and the shiny chrome wheels that bounced the sun's light off of them was blinding him. The front end of the car literally looked angry which he figured suited Mickey's style from what he gathered on him so far. 

Mickey got in the car and turned on the engine. The exhaust sounded beautiful, roaring loudly in the best way possible. He peeled out from behind Jennifer's jeep and screeched his tires to a halt infront of the lawn giving her plenty of room to get out. Ian was so focused on the car that he didn't even hear Jennifer who'd been calling his name. 

"Ian!!" He snapped his kneck up to look at her and blushed knowing that Mickey probably noticed him gawking at his car. Ian nodded his head upwards as a way of saying goodbye to Mickey in the car and he paced to the passenger seat in the jeep. Jennifer backed out slowly and carefully, not wanting to hit the Mercedes in front of her or the Evo behind her. She backed out successfully and her car was facing Mickey's. She flipped her hair and wiggled her fingers goodbye at him.

She drove away and exploded in laughter. "Oh my _fucking_ God. That guy was so goddamn hot like he was actually God sent. I'm literally wet right now from the sound of that car and seeing him in it. Jesus. Do you know him?" She asked and Ian felt a bit of jealousy. 

"No." He said short, lying to her. 

"Well shit, if you see him again at Chris' place can you ask if he's single cause hot damn I wanna ride that." She teased, more than half-serious.

 _So do I._ "Yeah, I'll ask him." Ian forced out a fake smile.

"So how's Christahfahhh?" She mocked in a poorly-executed Boston accent. Chris had an actual Boston accent that Ian liked but Jennifer always ruined it for him.

"He's fine. Wanna hang at my place tonight after work?" Ian asked, changing the subject. 

Her face lit up and she grinned. "Sure! Tired of getting too much of that D?" She teased. 

He flipped her off and chuckled. "No just need a break I guess." He sighed. All he could think about was Mickey and he knew that was the real reason he wanted a break from sleeping with Chris. He tried to get the man out of his head the best he could. He wasn't even gay so why was he wasting his time on thinking of Mickey he thought. He turned on the radio in the jeep to drown out his thoughts of longing and lust for a man he could never have.

 

*********************************************

 

"You know Ian?" Chris asked, walking down the stairs in nothing but his boxer briefs. He did have a nice body, but Mickey didn't want _His_ body. 

"Oh uh no. Nah just some kid that Mandy knows. She dated his brother back in the day." Mickey responded hoping Chris would drop it. He did.

"You get the money from last night's job?" Chris asked. 

"Yeah. Joey has it. Said he'd be here soon with Tony and Iggy."

"Very good. Be more fucking careful next time. I don't need shit to go sour any time soon."

"Got it. Any plans tonight?" Mickey asked. 

"None that have to do with robbery. Wanna come to the club with me and hang out? It's not just dudes on other dudes they have female dancers too. You know, a little this and that for everyone. Plus, Ian's friend Jennifer is gorgeous. Maybe you two could hit it off." Chris Said, wiggling his eyebrows up and down and nudging him suggestively.

Mickey nodded and headed toward the kitchen. He let out a sigh when he heard Chris go back up stairs. He never came out of the closet but always knew he was into men. Growing up on the Southside and coming from the family he was stuck with made it difficult to be who he was. He never really felt free. Never felt alive. Until the night he stumbled upon Ian. Saving him made him feel alive. He shook the thoughts away knowing he could never have the red head as he was seeing Chris, one of his partners. 

Chris was a scary dude when he was angry and was a loose fucking cannon. He definitely didn't want to piss him off but he couldn't fight the feeling of thinking about Ian. Thinking about him wasn't harmful, right?


	4. Adrenaline

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song:   
> Adrenaline by 12 Stones.

"Put your fucking hands up, bitch! I'm not asking twice!" Mickey screamed at the bank teller. She was shaking, slowly bringing her hands up next to the other tellers who already had their hands up. They were all lined up in front of the desk and had potato sacks over their heads. Tony cocked his gun causing Joey and Iggy to follow suit.

"Give me the motherfucking safe combination and you get to keep your life. How goddamn hard is that to understand?" Chris asked, holding his glock up to one of the teller's head.

"Fuck you, you cretin." The teller spit back at Chris causing him to pistol whip her for talking back. She fell to the ground screaming in agony. 

"Shelly, just do what they ask!" The teller next to her said.

"Shelly, is it?" Mickey asked looking down at her, voice muffled through his V for Vendetta mask that they all were wearing. He continued when Shelly didn't respond, "Listen, Shell Bell. We don't want to hurt your miserable asses. But we will." He crouched down to her level even if she wasn't able to see him. "Tell us the fucking combination you worthless shit or my buddy here is going to fucking hurt you and all of your teller friends."

Mickey hated being this way. He hated making people feel this way but he didn't have a choice anymore. This was his life now. He regretted ever putting that tattoo of a 'V' on the outside of his wrist that signified the gang he'd joined years ago along with his brothers. It wasn't a gang like the Bloods or the Cripps but it had similar aspects. The people in his gang were his life. He protected them at all costs and vice versa. 

Their boss, Paco, would have them doing, but not limited to, bank and other miscellaneous robberies. Also, Paco would make them do runs for him which could range from drug deals to beating someone down for money they owed. And the only way out of this gang was in a box six feet under the ground. Once you were in, you were in for life. The people in his crew came first with not a single exception to that rule. No questions asked.

Shelley sinffled, causing Mickey to frown secretly under his mask, and she spoke with a shake voice, "The combination is 27-44-23-16. Please don't hurt me, I've got kids at home. A family. Please." She begged, and Mickey's heart dropped. The begging was the worst part for him. Especially when coming from people he could tell were very vulnerable. 

Chris crouched down and put his gloved hand on what he could feel was her cheek through the sack. "Good. Was that so hard?" He stood back up to face Mickey. "I'm going in for the money. You fucks stay with these crybabies. I'll be quick." 

Chris left the room to run to the safe with haste before the cops arrived. Mickey's brothers remained standing still holding their glocks up to the hostages's heads. Mickey looked down at Shelly who was now blatantly crying, holding her knees to her chest. She must have instinctly felt Mickey's gaze on her as she released her knees to crawl forward slowly and grabbed Mickey's hand.

"Please. Just let me go. I have a family. Two kids; three and five years old. I'm all they've got their daddy walked out on them when the oldest was born. Please.." She begged. Fuck. Mickey couldn't take it. He brought his other hand slowly down to the top of her head and grasped the potato sack, ready to pull it off when Tony saw him.

"Ay! The fuck are you doing?" Tony yelled angrily causing the other tellers to move their heads in his direction. 

Mickey didn't want to even think about what they or his boss would do to him if they caught wind of him being soft. He released his grip on the sack and pushed her head back with force, causing her to fall backwards. He bit back tears and put the gun back up to her head. Shelly screamed in terror and pulled her small body into a feetal position. He breathed in quickly to hold back his emotions and masked them with harshness he'd mastered to fake so well all these years.

"You shut the fuck up or I'll blow your fucking brains out!" _I fucking hate myself._

Tony turned his head from Mickey and back to the frightened tellers. Mickey figured that did the trick, so he just held his gun up at Shelly until Chris came back. When Chris had the two duffle bags he brought filled with cash, he turned to the tellers. "Well, this was fun. We'll schedule another playdate soon!" Mickey always knew Chris was insane and was the more daring one of the group. He usually lead them because he feared absolutely nothing and Paco loved that about him. He wanted something, it was his. And Chris was an absolute sociopath so he couldn't care less if it was yours. 

The four Milkovichs followed Chris outside to Mickey's Evo. Chris got in the passenger seat and the others in the back. Mickey started the car and peeled out of there faster than a bat outta hell. Chris pulled off his mask, roaring in laughter. The others followed him as Chris held out one of the duffle bags; opening it to reveal the thousands of dollars they just stole. He held a stack out to Mickey's face, still covered by his mask.

"Smell that, Mick? Fucking beautiful!" Chris said with insanity in his eyes. Mickey quickly pulled the mask off his face and took a hard turn down an alley. He cut the engine and turned the lights off, watching the red and blue lights speed by seconds later. They all watched as Chicago's Finest gunned it down the street. After the last car drove by, Mickey started the car back up, feeling the rush of adrenaline kick in as he laid his foot down on the gas and sped out of the alley. The adrenaline rush that he got after jobs was his favorite part, he had to admit.

He drove the opposite direction towards the highway, speedometer reading 99 MPH. His car had a two liter turbo with 350 horsepower so going that speed was nothing. He fucking loved the feeling of driving his car fast so he let out a scream when the speedometer hit 108. So did Chris. 

He barreled down the highway, weaving in and out of cars, car roaring. He sped by a state trooper who flashed their lights and peeled out of the open median strip they were stopped at to chase after the reckless driver that was Mickey.

"Fuck! Five-O!" Iggy yelled, body turned around facing the back windshield.

"Here piggy piggy." Mickey muttered and smirked. He floored it, the turbo boost giving off a loud whooshing sound. It fucking thrilled Mickey. Joey looked at the speedometer now reading 132 MPH and fell back against his seat by the force of the car.

"Fuck, Mickey! You're gonna kill us!" Joey screamed against the roaring of the engine. Chris rolled down the window, gripping tight to feel the wind whipping into his face. They were approaching a median entrance/exit way and Iggy covered his eyes.

"Don't fucking do it, Mick! Shit, not this fucking burnout crap again! FUUUUUUUCK!" Iggy yelled holding on for dear life as Mickey slammed on the breaks causing the car to spin out into a giant donut. Mickey let out roaring laughter, gripping the steering wheel tight, while everyone else except for Chris held on to one another screaming in terror. Chris was yelling "Woo!" as the car completed the turn, Mickey being able to completely control the car successfully, and turned into the meridian exit/entry way.

He gunned it up the highway in high speeds as he passed the state troopers on the opposite side of the road, sticking out his middle finger to them and laughing as he did so.

"I swear to Christ you think you're fucking Paul Walker from Fast and the Furious some times!" Tony yelled out to his brother causing Mickey to chuckle. He used to steal cars when he was younger and really picked up a deep liking for cars. He loved working on them and more importantly, he loved driving them. He used to race the cars he'd fix up, winning every single time. It was a skill being able to drive the way he did, so Paul Walker would be proud. 

He got off on their needed exit and headed towards Chris' place. They all lived there which would explain the 4 extra rooms in the hallway upstairs. Mickey didn't sleep very well so he'd always get up early to go out for a drive. Driving always cleared his mind and made him feel better which also explained why he was coming in early as Ian was leaving.

When he got there, Jimmy was waiting for them with changed plates as always for extra precaution. It was nearly 9pm and Chris checked his phone.

Ian (8:47PM): Hey are you coming to Devine tonight? My break's at 9:45.

Chris (8:58PM): Be there soon. Tell Jennifer I'm bringing my friend for her.

Ian (9:00PM): She's excited. 

Chris put his phone back and his pocket and walked towards Jimmy. "As always, it's been a pleasure." Chris said to him, handing Jimmy a one hundred dollar bill for a tip. Paco paid him well as it was, so the five of them would take turns tipping Jimmy.

Jimmy took the bill and nodded, saluting him and getting in to his own car to take off. Tony grabbed the two duffle bags and headed inside the house, Joey and Iggy following behind him. Before Mickey could follow, Chris put his hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Sorry about the surprise run tonight. Really wasn't expecting one but Paco said he needed it done. Thanks for helping." Chris said genuinely.

Mickey nodded. "Blood or not, family's family."

Chris grinned. "Speaking of family looking out for one another, I'm heading to Divine in a few minutes. Still wanna come? Jennifer said she's excited to meetcha." 

Mickey's heart dropped. He didn't want to be with Jennifer, he wanted another certain someone who was absolutely off limits. He mustered up fake enthusiasm and put on his fake smile.

"Yeah, okay. Let me just shower first." 

Chris lit up with excitement and patted Mickey on the cheek. He headed inside leaving Mickey outside who was staring at the car, listening to the crackling noises it was making from his chase he got out of. He put his hand on the car, relishing the heat against his palm amidst the chill in the air. He thought about how badly tonight was going to suck. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He was going to have to jusy endure. Mickey took his hand off the car and popped the collar of his trench coat, walking towards the front door to continue a very shitty day lapsing into a very shitty night.


	5. All Eyes on Me

The club was packed to capacity. It was dark with smoke, different colored flashing lights and occasional strobe lights. The music was very loud and it was exactly how Mickey remembered it about a week ago when he secretly went to watch Ian dance. Mickey bit back jealousy when he saw everyone drooling below the stage over Ian. 

Ian danced like he really knew what the fuck he was doing. Tonight he was wearing nothing but golden colored shoes, a bow tie, and leather black short shorts revealing his perfectly toned physique. Mickey downed his drink when he saw an older man approach Ian, slipping a twenty in the front of his waist band. Ian gave the older man a smirk and went back to dancing,  
making sure he was putting on a good show knowing most eyes were on him. His confidence turned Mickey on so he looked away trying to get the thought of Ian's cock out of his mind.

Jennifer walked over to their booth to meet Chris, eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree when she realized the friend he was planning to introduce her too was the guy with the awesome car earlier that morning. She stood at the edge of the table between the two men and handed over to beers, collecting the empty shot glasses. Chris grinned when he noticed Jennifer's demeanor towards Mickey.

"Hello, Miss Jennifer. Thanks for the beers! You remembered my favorite!" He said, holding up the bottle of Heineken. She flashed her perfectly whitened smile at him and he looked over at Mickey who was looking down at his beer. "This is my friend, Mickey. Mickey, this is Ian's very beautiful best friend, Jennifer." Chris said introducing them.

Mickey bit back his lack of interest to the best of his ability but failed when he only nodded his head up once and glancing back down at the beer. "Wow. Hi. Yes I remember you from earlier with the car. That car is fucking awesome by the way!" She said nervously, gawking at his looks and feeling like a little school girl with a crush.

Mickey decided to show his true colors in hopes of turning her off. He definitely thought she was attractive, but he wasn't sexually attracted to her or any female for that matter. He had slept with girls before, very much against his wanting to, only to make the others think he was straight. He hated having to hide. "Ah yes. You were the dumbfuck who parked in my door. Nice to finally meetcha."

Jennifer's eyes narrowed when she noticed his eyes moved from hers and over to the stage where Ian was. She had never been turned down by a guy before and she hated the vibes that Mickey was sending her of pure uninterest. She followed his gaze, very annoyed by the inferred rejection. Her eyes widened when she saw he was staring at Ian. She brought her hand over her mouth to hide a giggle when her frustration diminished and turned to realization. He was totally into Ian which was why he was showing her disinterest. She turned back around to face the men and leaned over the table to kiss Chris on the cheek.

"Alright I gotta go back to the bar now, so I'll see ya around. Nice meeting you, Mickey." She said trying to hold in laughter. She wasn't laughing because it was necessarily funny but she just wasn't expecting someone who looked like Mickey did to be gay. She also wondered how his friend didn't know when she caught on in under sixty seconds. She chuckled and headed back behind the bar to carry her coworkers through their shift per usual. 

"The fuck, Mick? Why'd you do that?" Chris said, punching him in the arm. Mickey played dumb. 

"Do what?" He asked, taking a long swig of his beer.

"She's a smoke show and wanted your dick. Why'd you turn her away?" He asked, frustration and confusion on his face.

"Seemed kinda sleazy." He said bluntly. He wasn't lying, but wasn't telling the truth of why he turned her down.

"The fuck? You expect me to introduce you to Oprah? Jesus Mickey I was just trying to help you get your dick wet. And now I'm gonna hear about it from Ian when his shift is over."

Mickey cringed when Chris said the redhead's name. He wished his friend would fuck someone else so that he could have Ian for himself. He didn't want to just fuck Ian but he stopped himself before his thoughts ventured further. Mickey Milkovich did not do relationships and he couldn't understand why he was so hung up on this redhead. He glanced over at Ian who was now giving the same older man from before a lap dance. He gripped the kneck of the beer bottle tightly in frustration and took another swig.

"I'm sorry, man. Gotta take a piss. Be right back." Mickey said, standing up to walk towards the bathrooms but making a quick detour to pass a certain someone he wished he was taking home tonight.

Mickey walked down the stairs to pass Ian who was finished with the geriatric he was grinding on and was back on stage. He brought his hand up to his nose, glancing over at Ian to see Ian noticed he was there and only a few feet away. The song turned to Natalia Kills' _Problem_ and Ian smirked. Ian's eyes glanced over at Chris who was staring down at his phone. His eyes now moving to Mickey's, amused to see he was watching him.

Ian started swaying along to the song on the stage, never moving his gaze from Mickey. Mickey felt an erection coming on and didn't care to do anything about it. He brought his beer up to his mouth and took a swig, Still staring in Ian's eyes.

The man on stage smirked at Mickey, looking at him like he was prey that he was about to pounce on. Mickey's cock twitched with the way Ian was making him feel just by looking at him. Ian moved his gaze to the cage next to him and stepped inside, amused to see that Mickey was still watching him.

Ian grabbed the poles of the cage and slid his body down until he was crouching. He slowly came back up, dragging his tongue up along the pole as he was coming up. Mickey pictured his tongue on his dick and nearly moaned at the thought. Ian continued to dance inside of the cage, staring at mickey and seeing how crazy he waa making the latter. Ian's heart fluttered when he looked down Mickey's body noticing his very obvious hard-on. 

_Is he gay?_ Ian thought to himself and continued dancing the best he could to see if he could continue to drive the only member of the audience he cared about watching him crazy. He felt eyes burning a hole through him when he looked over to the bar to see Jennifer staring with widened eyes, jaw dropping nearly to the floor. 

_Fuck._ He thought and stopped looking at Mickey around the same time Mickey noticed Jennifer staring and headed quickly to the bathroom. Ian tried hiding his blush while he was up on stage with practically everyone in the room staring at him the best he could. He stepped out of the cage and continued on with his routine.

Mickey finally made it to the bathroom, heading right to the stall instead of the open urinal. He unbuttoned and unzipped his jeans, allowing his fully erect cock to spring free. He put one hand on the wall to hold himself up and spit on his other hand. He started pumping hard and fast along his dick, trying to relieve the extreme sexual tension building up from watching Ian practically eye fucking him. He wasn't one to jerk off in the bathroom of a club, but shit, he couldn't help himself. 

Usually, Mickey would find a guy on Tinder if he needed some quick relief or would jerk off in the privacy of his room, but never like this in a public restroom. He neared his orgasm, biting down hard his lip to hold in a moan. He was picture Ian and how it would feel if Ian had him bent over in this stall right now pounding into him. As soon as the thought approached his mind, he came hard.

Mickey sighed in relief, Still leaning against the wall. He never felt this way about anyone ever and he was honestly intrigued by the enigmatic feelings. He took a deep breath and exhaled, reaching down to zip and button back up his jeans. He composed himself, running a hand through his hair, and opened the stall door. He instantly froze in fear to see Chris standing at the sink washing his hands. He looked up at the mirror to see a wide-eyed Mickey.

"Jesus, Mick. You left to go to the bathroom like 25 minutes ago. What'd you have to take a massive shit?" Chris teased and looked back down at his hands, ready to dry them off. Mickey didn't know what to say and instantly felt guilty. He knew what he did was so wrong and he truly felt terrible for even having thoughts like that about his friend's date.

"Uh yeah. Sorry about that. Stomach is a bit uneasy from the adrenaline earlier." He lied. Chris moved toward his friend and put a hand on his cheek, smiling softly. 

"Don't worry about it. We're leaving soon anyway. Fucking Paco needs us to meet at the hideout." He said, clearly aggravated.

Mickey nodded. He went to the sink to wash his hands, sighing in relief once he saw Chris left the bathroom. He needed to stop these feelings from popping up in his mind right the fuck now. He could never have Ian and that was that. He finished washing and headed back out to the club. 

He pushed through the pile of people to head back to the booth he and Chris shared. He felt eyes on him and looked back to see a certain redhead staring down at him from the stage with a devious look on his face. Fuck. There's those thoughts again. Mickey sighed and turned back to venture over to the booth to carry on with his now beyond shitty night.

Chris saw Mickey walking toward him and he stood up.

"We gotta go now. Boss says it's urgent." Chris said, holding up his phone for Mickey to see the text from Paco. Mickey nodded feeling very relieved to get the fuck outta there. He followed Chris back to the floor and down the stairs heading to the stage. Of fucking course. Chris stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled, grabbing Ian's attention. Still swaying to the music, he swiftly jumped down off the stage.

"I gotta go, babe. I'm really sorry. Tonight's not gonna be a good night either we have a family emergency to tend to." Chris said looking into Ian's eyes, searching to see if he bought the lie or not. Surprisingly, it seemed like he did. 

"Alright. Is everything okay? Do you need anything?" Ian asked with concern. Chris stepped forward to get closer to Ian and wrapped his arms around his waist. Mickey looked down at the floor, fuming. He knew he had no right to feel this way but he couldn't help it.

"No thank you. You're so sweet, baby. I'll text you to check in later, yeah?" He said and Ian nodded trying to avoid eye contact. He felt kind of awkward doing this infront of Mickey. He didn't know why he felt that way when he hasn't even really talked Mickey much, but he definitely felt a little bit better about his odds when he thought back to the way Mickey reacted to his dancing. His thoughts were interrupted by a sloppy kiss on the lips from Chris. 

Mickey looked up when he didn't hear then talking and he felt like fucking punching Chris in the face. _Cool it. He's not yours. Relax._ He tried calming himself down. Ian pulled away finally relieving Mickey from the torture and jealousy.

"Talk to you soon. Gotta get back up there. I hope everything's okay." Ian said, and moved his gaze to Mickey's eyes. "Have a goodnight, Mickey."

Mickey's heart started beating out of his chest. He grinned stupidly and brought his hand up, open palmed, to signal a goodbye and turned around to quickly head for the door. _God, I probably just looked like a fucking nerd. Jesus. What the fuck am I doing._ He shook his head at the thoughts and made it to the exit, instantly pulling out a much needed cigarette. He exhaled the smoke out of his nose and Chris came out of the door soon after. They headed to Chris' Mercedes and sped off into the night.

 

*****************************************

Ian took his break a few minutes after they left. He was in the back room eating a slice of stale pizza and looking through his phone. His heart nearly stopped when he looked at the text from Jennifer. 

Jennifer (9:20PM): OMFG YOU ARE NEVER GOING TO BELIEVE WHAT JUST HAPPENED AND WHAT I JUST SAW. MICKEY WAS EYE-FUCKING YOU WHILE YOU WERE ON STAGE GAH I CAN'T WAIT TO TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENED. Seriously though, text me the fuck back when you're on break or come to the bar!!!!

Ian instantly dropped the slice of shitty pizza and headed to the bar. Jennifer was wiping down the counter when Ian slapped his hand down on it to purposefully startle her and grinned. She flipped him off after nearly having a heart attack and she put her hands down on the counter, leaning close to his face. 

"Ian Gallagher, you naughty boy. I saw you down there and luckily Chris didn't. So fucking spill right now." She said, raising an eyebrow. "He turned me down, by the way. And when he did, he wasn't even looking at me. He was looking at _you._ "

Ian's heart fluttered and couldn't help but grin. "I'll tell you the whole story tonight when you sleepover." He said and her eyes lit up with excitement. 

She turned her head at the angry customer who was rudely snapping at her to take his order. She looked back at Ian and rolled her eyes. "Jesus, keep your shirt on Gramps! I'm coming."

Ian let out a laugh and headed back to the break room to think about how great his night was turning out to be but instantly feeling his heart sink remembering he was seeing Chris who happened to be really close with Mickey. He sighed at the thought and continued to scroll through his phone to take his mind off of the guy he really wanted to be with.


	6. Gangsta's Paradise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song:  
> Gangsta's Paradise by Coolio.

"Hello, gentlemen." Paco said, smoking a cigarette. He was sitting behind a table and staring at the blank TV screen that was off to the side.

"What's going on, boss?" Chris questioned. Iggy, Tony and Joey were already in the room stiffly standing still infront of Paco before Mickey and Chris arrived.

Paco, still staring at the blank screen, put out his cigarette in the ashtray. Without saying a word, he picked up the remote and flicked on the TV that was in their hideout, never moving his gaze from it. The channel was on the news. Mickey swallowed nervously, already knowing where this was going. Paco just lifted the remote in silence to the TV and nodded in its direction.

_The city of Chicago was rocked tonight when a local bank was robbed only a few hours ago. Shelly Scott, a witness of the robbery and teller of the bank, decided to come forward to reveal the frightening events that occurred tonight._

The screen switched to Shelly's face, bandage covering her forehead from being pistol whipped by Chris.

_It was truly horrific. We were just trying to save the bank but we also didn't wanna get shot. They put potato sacks over our heads so we couldn't see them, but we caught a glimpse of their masks. They were wearing V for Vendetta masks and there were five of them, I think. We just wanted to stay safe so we complied to their requests but one of them seemed to want to help me. I thought he was going to let me go until one of his scumbag partners basically told him to knock it off -_

Paco clicked off the TV, still looking at the now black screen. "So who was the softy?" He asked, tension so thick you could cut it with a knife. None of them answered and Paco slowly brought up his hand to grip the bridge of his nose. Before he got to his nose he slammed his fist down on to the table with force causing all of the men to wince and feel truly frightened. 

"I said, who the _fuck_ was the softy?!" He said, anger in his eyes. He was now looking at the five men before him, eyes dancing from face to face, searching for the weak link. Tony knew it was Mickey, but he wasn't a rat. 

Paco stood up slowly and cracked his kneck, sending chills down Mickey's spine. "Chris and Mick, I know it ain't either of you two so sit the fuck down. Now, the three fucking amigos. Who was the softy?" He questioned looking at Tony, Iggy and Joey. Everyone remained silent and Mickey felt sick to his stomach. Paco pulled put his gun and the three Milkovichs stiffened in fear. Paco walked behind them starting with Tony and then moving on to Joey. 

"Duck.." Paco said, lightly tapping on the back of Tony's head with the barrel of his glock. He moved on to Joey and repeated the action, "Duck.."

He moved on to Iggy who was shaking in fear. Paco put the barrel up to the back of his head and cocked the gun. "Goose!"

"It ain't me boss! I swear I ain't do anything!" Iggy yelled, purely frightened. 

Paco cracked him in the bag of the head with the gun, causing Iggy to drop like a rag doll. Iggy slowly opened his eyes and rolled over onto his back to see that Paco was now standing over him, gun pointed in his face.

"Iggy you wanna know why I care so much about being a softy?"

Iggy started hyperventilating and Paco continued, "Because it makes you fucking weak. And then it comes down to me and makes me look weak. Now, I didn't grow weaklings in this gang. I grew soldiers, Ig. Soldiers who aren't fucking pussies and aren't going to give in to your feelings. I can't worry that every time you dipshits do a job for me that one of you is going to let a hostage go because of you being a fucking pussy. Now this is your one and only warning. And this is for the rest of you, too." He said looking at everyone. 

"If I catch wind of any one of idiots being a softy again, I will fucking shoot you. Do I make myself clear?" 

The five men stared at him in silence with wide eyes. Paco looked at each of them and then stomped his foot in anger. "I said do I make myself goddamn clear?!"

They all shook their heads, no one saying a word. Paco nodded seeing his crew understood. "Good. That's all I needed for tonight. Chris, you still good with that deal tomorrow morning with Mickey?"

"Yeah we're good for it." Chris answered, suddenly seeming unbothered by what just happened.

"Good. Send me an update tomorrow."

 

***************************************

 

Ian was sitting on the shitty couch he picked up with Lip at a yard sale before moving in to his also shitty apartment. At least it matched. 

Jennifer sat down next to him wearing only one of his t-shirts and holding a bowl of popcorn. She pit the bowl aside and wrapped her arms around him.

"Ian.. I had no idea that you felt like this. Why didn't you tell me.." She asked, tears forming in her eyes. He told her everything that happened from the night he first met Mickey up until that night. Jennifer knew about his depression and him being bipolar but he never let her know how he truly felt, feeling ashamed of his feelings.

He closed his eyes as he embraced her tightly, trying to hold back tears. He had to whisper his words to keep his voice steady. "I'm so sorry, Jennifer. I wanted to tell you. I swear I did. But I just could never get the words out except for on paper. I wrote a suicide note and planned on keeping it in my pocket so if someone found me they could give it to me family." He explained, feeling the hot tears filling in his eyes and dripping down his cheeks on Jennifer's hair.

She started to sob, holding on tight to her best friend. They cried together for a few moments and she looked up at him. "Does your family know? Fiona?"

"No. I could never tell them. I never plan on telling them either. I was just really low that night and had to go to doctor Goldman to balance out my meds again. I've been okay since then. Mickey saving me though... I don't know how to explain it. He didn't just save my life, he saved me from myself. He made me feel alive. I want more of that feeling and he's the only who makes me feel that way."

"Hey you jerk!" She teased punching him in the arm.

"You know what I mean. You know I don't date guys. I'm already damaged enough I don't need someone else damaging me even more. But I dunno, I don't get that feeling with Mickey. It just seems... I dunno, right I guess. But I could never pursue him even if I wanted to because of Chris."

Jennifer nodded, seeing how torn up Ian was about the entirety of the situation. She rested her head on his shoulder. "Ian Gallagher, I love you. You know I love you, right?"

Ian chuckled and nodded. She continued, "I just want you to be happy no matter what. If this Chris guy isn't doing it for you, well, then I saw kick his ass to the curb."

Ian sighed before answering. "It's not that simple and I know you know that. Plus I don't actually know for sure if Mickey's even gay. Chris brought him to see _you."_

"Yeah but he wasn't even interested in my ever-so irresistible ass even a little bit. Know why? Because he was too busy looking at _you._ I say you just go for it and not even look back. Chris seems super possessive which is not a good look, anyway. So kick his ass to the damn curb and hop on Mickey's." She teased.

Ian shook his head at her, ready to change the subject to get her off his back about it. He pressed play on Amityville Horror and they watched, chowing down on the popcorn and cuddling for the remainder of the night.

 

**************************************

 

Chris, Joey and Iggy headed inside their home leaving Tony and Mickey outside. Tony pushed Mickey against his Evo. "You fucking piece of shit! Why didn't you tell Paco it was you?! Instead you almost let your brother get killed because you had a pussy moment!"

Mickey shoved him back, force of the shove landing him on his was. "You shut the fuck up! I'm not a Goddamn pussy and there was nothing to tell Paco. I didn't do anything!"

Tony stayed sitting on the ground and looked up at his little brother. They both stayed silent for a few minutes, both calming down. Tony broke the silence. "I know you're a fag, you know. We all know except for Chris."

Mickey's eyes widened, rage coming over him. He balled his fists and took a step forward. "The _fuck_ did you just say to me, bitch?" Mickey asked through gritted teeth.

Tony shook his head. "Mickey, we don't care. We fucking love you no matter who you choose to bang. It doesn't make you any different. You're still a scary motherfucker. You scare your older brothers even." Tony chuckled at the thought. Mickey started to release his tight gripping in his fists. He sniffed and brought his hand up to his nose. 

"How long you know for." He asked bluntly. 

"Since you were 13. We always wanted to watch porn on Terry's laptop and you never wanted to. You always gawked at the dudes in movies and never the chicks. I mean shit, you've never even had a girlfriend. We all talked about it before Terry passed a few years back and even your brothers knew. I think I was the first to know many years ago, but we know now." Tony said, noticing Mickey was starting to soften.

"So why you bringing it up now?" Mickey asked, pulling out a cigarette out of his coat pocket and handing one to Tony. 

"Because life's too short, man. Especially with the shit we're in. I'm no pussy, but as a man I can admit that everyday when I wake up, I wonder if it'll be my last. Nothing's guaranteed."

He nodded and saw Tony softly smiling at him. "Shit that's deep. But it's true." Mickey took a long drag of his cigarette, exhaling the smoke out of his nose as he spoke. "Guess we been spending most our lives livin' in the gangsta's paradise."

They both laughed and Mickey reached out to help his brother up. He gave Tony a pat on the back and tossed his cigarette out before entering the house to get his usual 4-5 hours of sleep before having to do shit he definitely didn't feel like doing in the morning.


	7. Pinky Promise

Ian slept until noon the next day, arm still wrapped around Jennifer. He smiled at how peaceful she looked when she was sleeping and slowly got up, trying not to disturb her knowing that peacefulness would diminish and transform into anger. He made it off the bed without waking her and walked out of the bedroom to head towards the kitchen. He poured himself some coffee and sat down at the table. He checked his phone and, to his disappointment, had a message from Chris.

Chris (7:56AM): Morning, babe. I hope your night was alright without me. Everything is good on my end. Wanna stay over tonight?

Ian sighed, really not wanting to stay the night at Chris'. But he had to accept that he could never have Mickey. Chris was okay and kept him complacent...for now. Ian texted back. 

Ian (12:08PM): Sounds good. Have a shift tonight. You coming in to drop by?

Chris (12:09PM): Can't, but I'm sending Mickey there to keep an eye out on you. Make sure no dudes are trying to touch what's mine. I'll be there to pick you guys up.

Ian cringed at the word 'mine'. He wasn't _his,_ he was just seeing him to not feel so lonely at night and to relieve himself. Then he noticed something else that stood out to him. _I'll be there to pick you guys up._ You guys? Ian thought about it and clearly remembered Chris saying he lived alone. 

Ian (12:10PM): Pick you guy(s) up? Plural? Thought you said you lived alone. 

Chris (12:11PM): He's my roommate. Him and his three brothers. Didn't tell you because I didn't want you to think anything badly was happening. They aren't gay we're all just really good friends.

_Mickey might be, though. ___

__Ian (12:12PM): I don't date liars._ _

__Chris (12:12PM): We're dating now?_ _

__Ian (12:13PM): You know what I mean._ _

__Chris (12:13PM): You're basically mine already - wanna make it official?_ _

_Fucking fuck._

__Ian didn't know what to say. He was scared of a relationship but was even more scared of what might happen if he said no to the hot-head. He wished Jennifer was awake so he could consult with her first but Chris already decided for him._ _

__

__Chris (12:16PM): Just made it FB official. We'll celebrate tonight, baby. See you after your shift_ _

Ian looked at the text over and over until his head started to hurt. How was he going to get out of this now? He sighed loudly, putting down the phone on the table and bringing his finger tips to his temples to rub slowly in frustration. He also hated how Chris felt he needed a babysitter. He's a grown man and could handle himself. Although, it was going to be Mickey who clearly liked watching him up on.. _Stop it._ He interrupted his own thoughts before they took him to a place even further from where he should be.

__

__

__He looked up toward his bedroom once be heard yawning and movement in the room. Jennifer walked out soon after and Ian hated her for literally being the only person he knew who still looked like she could be a model in the morning. _Christ, did she sell her soul to Satan to get that lucky?__ _

__"Morning Ian baby. How'd you sleep?" She asked, voice still kind of raspy from waking up a moment ago._ _

__He didn't say anything but hold out his phone for her to take and look at the texts on his phone. Her brow furrowed and Ian was ready for a giant mom-lecture._ _

_" Stud muffin, you're fiery red hair really turns me on especially when you're dropping the booty low."_

__She burst out into laughter and his brow furrowed, "Jesus, fuck off! Give me the phone back for a second. That was some rando from the club that I plan on just deleting the message anyway. Christ." He ripped the phone from her hands while her laughter continued. He glared up at her and looked down to make sure he was on the thread with Chris this time. He handed her back the phone. She looked down at the message and instantly stopped laughing, smile turning into a frown._ _

__"Ian, didn't we just talk about-"_ _

__"Yes! And as you can see I really didn't get the chance to say no." Ian interrupted her. She had a very concerned look on her face and sat down in the chair next to him. She ran a hand through her thick, dark hair and looked back at him._ _

"Ian, I don't like you with that guy. One, he's very possessive to the point where he's sending someone to monitor you at a fucking _club._ Two, he seems very controlling and you seem to be very scared of him. So, how does one build a working, healthy relationship living in fear of your partner?" 

__

__

__She was very right and Ian knew it. He looked away over to the fridge and Jennifer leaned forward over the table to cup her hand on his cheek, moving his face to hers._ _

__"Don't shut me out like you always try to do, Ian. I'm your best friend and love you no matter what kind of crazy shit you find yourself in constantly. It's gonna be okay, alright? Just tell me the truth and nothing but the truth okay?" She asked looking in to his eyes and holding out her pinky that had black nail polish painted over it. He wrapped his own pinky around around hers and stared into her sky-blue eyes._ _

__"Are you truly okay with having a boyfriend and said boyfriend being Chris?" She asked, never once blinking and never moving her gaze. The truth was he wasn't okay with it. Not even close. But he wanted to just drop the whole thing and so his best to forget about it until he no longer could tonight._ _

__"Yes." He lied right to his best friend. She searched his eyes for any hint of being untruthful but Ian had mastered being able to lie well ever since he was a little kid. Fiona used to say he'd be a good lawyer but he never made it to college._ _

__She nodded her head slowly, still holding on to his pinky and looked into his eyes._ _

__"So why tell me about Mickey then?"_ _

__Fuck. He knew he wasn't getting out of this one easily. He held her gaze and searched through his brain to find something sufficient to say._ _

__"He doesn't matter anymore because I could never be with him. I accept that so I choose to move on from it." He said telling the truth. He didn't want to move on from it but he knew deep down he had to._ _

__She nodded slowly again, still searching his eyes. "So you're settling for your first boyfriend?"_ _

__"Shit, Jennifer. No. I really like Chris and that's the truth. I just.. I dunno if I really thought of being his boyfriend. But what's life without risks? You either put it all on the table or you die never knowing what could have been. So I'll put my cards down on Chris and worst case scenario we don't work out that way. We're already great in bed so we'll see how the rest plays out."_ _

__Jennifer narrowed her eyes at him and Ian knew the lecture was about to happen. She continued to hold his gaze and his pinky._ _

__"Huh. That's funny. For a betting man who preaches about taking risks, you surely avoid what you want to bet on the most. Don't even lie to me about it. Your nose twitches when you lie so that's how I know you're full of shit. But if you wanna risk your own feelings getting hurt, then by all means go the fuck ahead. I'll be there for you to pick up the pieces when this is over. I want you to know that the biggest risk of all, and the best bet you should be throwing down on is Mickey. But be my guest if you want to waste your time on Chris."_ _

__Ian hated how straightforward she could be sometimes. He also hated how she was always right. He sighed and dropped his pinky from hers and looking back down at the messages. He really didn't want to be Chris' boyfriend, but he was right to am extent that maybe things could work out...Or maybe not at all. But there was only one way to find it. He locked his phone and looked back up at Jennifer with defeated eyes._ _

__"I'm gonna try things out with Chris to see how it goes. But I'm still able to back down from him at any point. He doesn't own me."_ _

__Jennifer bit the inside of her cheek. Ian recognizing she was holding something back. She released the bite and spoke._ _

__"Do what you gotta do. But please be careful. He seems like the not-so-cute possessive type. You know, Like Mark Wahlberg in the movie Fear. Promise me you'll be safe."_ _

__Ian smiled lightly and nodded. "Mark Wahlberg was pretty sexy in that movie." Ian teased and Jennifer narrowed her eyes at him again._ _

__"Yeah if you're into the whole delusional psychopath type. This isn't funny just please promise."_ _

__He stared back into her eyes to see she wasn't fucking around. He nodded. "Yeah Jennifer. I promise."_ _

__She let out a light smile and then stood up. "I'm making us breakfast. This conversation is wayyyy too heavy for being first thing in the morning."_ _

__"It's almost 12:30, Jennifer. You missed 'first thing in the morning' hours ago." He teased and she flipped him off as a response. She accidentally walked in to the side of the table on her way to the stove and grabbed her foot in pain. Ian burst out into laughter._ _

__"That's what you fucking get!" He said. She looked up at him and glared. He shook his head and tried to enjoy the rest of his day before having to dread the rest of his night._ _

__

__*********************************_ _

__

__"Fucking Ben, again?! That goes does so much coke that he probably believes it's winter year round!" Mickey complained to Chris, sitting in the passenger seat of his white Mercedes C350. Chris rolled his eyes._ _

__"Yeah let's hope the stupid fuck ODs soon so we don't have to keep up with this run for Paco. Apparently they go way back and Ben is one of his best clients. But also probably the dumbest." Chris said, looking down at his phone to see if Ian had responded to his text. To his disappointment, his boyfriend did not._ _

__"Gotta favor to ask you. Ya busy tonight?" Chris asked, looking over ay Mickey through his Aviator sunglasses._ _

__"Yeah actually. Iggy said he wanted to visit Terry's grave tonight to piss on it." Mickey replied as if that were something to act non-chalant about. Chris chuckled darkly at the thought._ _

__"That's fucking dope. You think after you could head to Divine for me? I can't make it tonight, Paco's having me do a separate run for him." Chris asked, eyes straight ahead on the road._ _

__Mickey's brow furrowed. "The club that the redhead you've been banging works at?"_ _

__"Hey, hey. Don't disrespect my boyfriend like that." Chris said threateningly._ _

_"Boyfriend?_ Since fucking when? And why do I gotta go?" 

__"Since a few minutes ago and because I fucking asked, that's why. I wanna make sure no dudes are all up on him."_ _

__Mickey sniffed and brought his hand up to his nose before answering. "So you want me to babysit your boyfriend, fully aware that he literally gets paid to give people lap dances and dance provocatively up on stage, and you think I'm gonna be able to keep every person in their off of him? The guy's attractive it would be a loss of money for him."_ _

__Chris slammed his foot on the break, screeching his tires to a halt on the side of the highway. Mickey flung forward, seat belt restraining him and causing him to harshly fling backwards looking like a human sling shot. Chris took off his sunglasses to look at Mickey who was now holding his head in pain._ _

__"What the fuck man-"_ _

__"I fucking didn't ask for your input! You're going to go to the fucking club tonight and you're going to do what the fuck I asked you to do! Do I make myself goddamn clear?" Chris interrupted, looking at Mickey with insane rage in his eyes._ _

__Mickey looked back at him trying to hide his fear. Truth be told, Chris scared the shit out of him because he never knew what his next move would be. Awhile back when they did a robbery, Chris shot and killed a man without any second thoughts for not liking the sound of his voice. So Mickey just nodded, trying to calm the man down._ _

__"Yeah, okay. I'll do it."_ _

__Chris snapped out of his rage, causing his inner psycho to diminish as if someone flicked on a switch, and he smiled. He patted his hand on Mickey's cheek._ _

__"Good. Be there for 8:30." Chris said and put his Aviators back on. He put the car in drive and made his way back on the high way._ _

__Mickey looked out the window, feeling sick to his stomach. He hated this life and he hated that Ian was now Chris' boyfriend. Now he never he _never_ could have a chance with Ian. He rolled down the window and lit up a cigarette, dreading what bullshit this day and night would bring him._ _


	8. Can You Feel My Heart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song:  
> Can You Feel My Heart by Bring Me The Horizon

"Hello"? Ian answered his phone while getting ready for his shift. 

"Ian! Jesus I'm so glad you're okay!" Carl yelled over the phone causing Ian to stop what he was doing and furrow his brow.

"What do you mean _glad I'm okay_ ?"

"I just grabbed the mail to check and see if I got the knife I ordered off of eBay. Your letter was in there and I called Fiona. She's on the way to your apartment now and I wanted to call and make sure you're okay!" Carl said sounding out of breath.

Ian's stomach turned and his heart dropped. _How the fuck did they get the letter?_ He thought to himself. And just as he was about to answer Carl, there was pounding on his door, Fiona yelling hysterically on the other side of it. 

"Fuck. Carl I'm really sorry. That letter wasn't... it wasn't supposed to get to you guys because I changed my mind. I'm not going to do that to you guys, okay? I'm really sorry but I gotta go. Fiona's here. I love you Carl."

"I love you too Ian.. Please text me if you need anything at all." Ian half smiled and hung up the phone to walk over to his sister who was trying to break down the door by now. He unlocked the many locks on the door and opened it to face his sister who had tears streaming down her cheeks. She stood still, frozen in place, and stared up at him bringing her hand over her mouth to hold in her crying. 

"Fiona I'm-"

"Don't." She interrupted. She stared at him a few more moments before taking in a deep breath and biting back her tears. She practically jumped on her brother, wrapping her arms around him tightly. He followed her action and hugged her back. She released from the embrace first and wiped her eyes before looking back up at him. 

"Ian..why.." Was all she could get out. He looked down instantly feeling ashamed. He didn't know how to answer that question to the person who always tried her absolute best to give him the best life possible, given the circumstances. She was the one to take him to all of his little league games and cheer him on from the sidelines even if he wasn't the best. She was the one to fix his cuts and scrapes from falling off his first two-wheeler bike. She practically raised all of her siblings and gave them everything she had to offer. So he couldn't bare to look her in the eye, guilt flooding over him. 

"I'm sorry Fiona. I was going through a really rough time and I was able to get my meds balanced. It's not going to happen again I'm so sorry.."

Fiona held her gaze on him while he continued to stare down at the floor. She nodded and brought him in for one last hug. "Please just tell me next time you're going through a rough time. I don't even know how I could live with myself if I ever lost you. You and Lip have been my rocks for so long I just... I don't even know what I'd do."

"I Will, Fiona. I'm sorry." Ian apologized sounding sincere. She pulled back and nodded, giving him a soft smile.

"Alright, I gotta head him to make dinner but please please, text me every once in a while will ya?" Ian smiled back and nodded. She put her hand on his shoulder and turned around. Before she moved forward, she stopped and whipped back around to face Ian. "Oh and Ian? Be careful. There's been a lot of crime and shit around here lately. The news has a new story practically every day so just.. stay safe. Use that pepper spray I gave ya for Christmas last year that I told you to use on creeps at the club if necessary." She said, giving him a concerned motherly look.

He chuckled and shook his head at the memory. "Yeah, yeah. I'll be safe. See you around."

And with that, Fiona left the building. Ian sighed in annoyance. He really wasn't needing any additional stress added on to his life now. He went back to getting ready when it struck him like a freight train. _I crumpled the letter and threw it on the ground that night... Did Mickey pick it up? But if so, why would he do this?_

Ian sent Jennifer a text before getting ready to leave the apartment.

Ian (7:33PM): I think Mickey put my suicide letter in my family's mailbox but I'm still trying to figure out why..

 

**************************************

 

Mickey sat in the car, smoking, while his brothers got out to piss on Terry's grave. He felt exceptionally annoyed tonight and didn't feel like joining in with his brothers. He had a feeling putting that letter in the Gallaghers' mailbox would come back to bite him, but he didnt much care. He felt his life was already in shambles so what else could possibly go wrong.

When his brothers came back, they got into the Evo ready to get the fuck outta there. Tony sat in the passenger seat while Joey and Iggy sat in the back.

"We gonna sit here and ponder life all night or are you gonna take us home?" Tony asked sarcastically, also lighting up a cigarette. Mickey exhaled the anime and flipped him off. He started the engine and took off to drop them at the house before having to go play babysitter. 

The ride home was silent, none of them having much to say. They usually got this when when visiting Terry's grave so this was normal. Mickey arrived to their house and dropped them off. He watched until his brothers walked in to the house and sat in the running car listening to his blaring music, words speaking to him as if it was a sign.

_I'm scared to get close and I hate being alone. I long for that feeling to not feel at all. The higher I get, the lower I'll sink. I can't drown my demons, they know how to swim. Can you feel my heart?_

He revved his engine and peeled out of the driveway knowing he wanted more than to just babysit Ian tonight. He was done being alone.

 

**************************************

 

"Twenty bucks will buy you a lap dance." Ian said, dancing infront of an older man who was sitting on one of the chairs next to the stage. The man instantly pulled out a twenty. Ian thrusted his hips forward swiftly, going with the music, and pausing waiting for the man to put it in the front of his waistband. Once the man slid the twenty in, Ian smirked and straddled him and began his routine.

The club wasn't as busy tonight as it had been recently, but it was definitely steady. Jennifer wasn't working tonight because she decided to call in 'sick' which Ian wished he'd done the same. He sighed at the thought and focused back on the man who definitely seemed to be enjoying himself. Whenever Ian noticed his customers were happy, it always boosted his confidence and made him try his best to make sure they maintained that feeling.

When the dance was over he moved back on stage with the other dancers. He started moving and swaying with the music when he looked up straight ahead to see piercing blue eyes staring at him. Mickey was leaving over the rail, sipping on his drink as he stated at Ian. Ian's heart jumped nearly out of his chest when Mickey put down the drink on the rail and slowly headed over to the stage. 

Ian moved his gaze to the opposite side of the room and back to Mickey to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. He wasn't. Mickey approached the stage and held up a one hundred dollar bill, face emotionless. 

Ian instantly brushed off all feelings of anger he had towards the man for outting his secret to his family and was quickly replaced with confusion. His brow furrowed looking at the forbidden man below him holding up a bill for a dance.

"You trying to get me to do something stupid so you can run back to Chris?" Ian asked, trying to be non-chalant on stage so his boss wouldn't notice. His eyes moved down to Mickey's waiting for a response.

"Nope. I want the champagne room though. One hundred good?"

 _What the fuck is even happening right now. This must be a game._ Ian thought to himself. Ian always enjoyed playing games so he played along changing his entire demeanor to try and catch him in the act.

"Yeah one hundred will do. Follow me." He said seductively and lead them to the champagne room. When they were in, Ian thrusted his hips forward indicating Mickey to slip the bill into his shorts. The latter obliged reluctantly and taken by surprise when Ian pushed him back into the seat aggressively. 

He got on top of Mickey and started grinding down on the man, waiting for him to crack his agenda. He decided to turn it up a notch and grabbed Mickey's hands that were hanging down by his side and slid them down his body. He brought his hands on to his ass and gripped Mickey's hands to squeeze Ian's was. He felt Mickey's breath shorten so he turned it up even more, trying to get him to admit he was only here to rat him out to Chris.

Ian slid his body down Mickey's, running his hands down the front of his body and stopped before reaching his pantline. Mickey looked nervous, which made Ian want to step it up even more. He slowly stood up over Mickey and turned around to sit on his lap. He felt Mickey's erection against his ass and started to question if he was actually doing this to rat Ian out or not. Ian continued his game, however.

He pushed down into his lap and started rolling his hips. He heard Mickey let breathe out a soft moan and Ian decided to cut the charade short. He reached back to grab Mickey's neck and gently pulled forward. He brought his own mouth up to Mickey's ear and whispered, "Are you gonna tell on me?"

Instantly, Mickey shook his head no and Ian decided to stop, not trusting his answer. He got up off of Mickey and turned around to face him, crossing his arms.

"So why are you here then other than the fact that Chris is having you babysit me?" Ian asked, now very annoyed.

Mickey sniffed and brought his hand up to his nose. He leaned forward and laid his arms on his knees, head looking down. "Ian I-"

"You what?" Ian interrupted, now crouching down to his level. Mickey remained silent and Ian spoke. "So why have you been watching me? I know you put that letter in my family's mail box. Why the fuck did you do that? You turned down my friend who is fucking gorgeous by the way, and then here you are trying to buy a dance from me. So tell me Mickey. Why are you here, in this room with me, clearly aroused?"

Mickey brought his head to look Ian in the eye. He felt so much sexual tension but knew he'd already done enough damage for one night. Ian leaned in closer, their faces nearly touching, and he whispered, "Do you want me, Mickey?"

Mickey's heart was beating out of his chest. Ian was tempting him; the forbidden fruit he knew he could never have. He inhaled Ian's delicious scent and remained very still. Ian slowly reached over to Mickey's thigh, running his hand up. Ian smirked when he saw how crazy he was making Mickey; the latter closing his eyes and biting down on his lip. 

_Fuck it. What's one taste._ Mickey decided as he moved forward, crashing his lips on to Ian's aggressively. He kissed him hungrily, Ian pushing into him aggressively. They both had been longing for this moment and it was even better than either of them expected.

Mickey grabbed Ian's hips to pull him in and stood up, picking up Ian. He walked forward crashing Ian's back against the wall. Ian wrapped around him like an octopus and moaned into the kiss. He loved how rough Mickey was being with him. Ian gripped Mickey's hair to pull his head back and started sucking along his neck, leaving hickeys behind. Mickey gripped tightly on to Ian's ass, feeling him run his aching erection on his stomach.

The kiss deepened, tongues dancing and sounds of moaning against the loud music in the background. Suddenly, their fantasy ended when Mickey's phone started to go off. As if it were like a switch going off in Mickey's head, he quickly dropped Ian down. Still panting heavily, he composed himself and answered the phone, staring at a wide eyed, also panting Ian.

"The fuck, Mickey I've been calling you! I'm here waiting outside in the car for you let's fucking go!" Chris yelled into the phone. Mickey's heart stopped and he froze in terror. He couldn't believe what he just did. It could never happen again. Ever. He quickly came back to reality and answered, "Sorry I got caught up with somethin. Be out in a minute." And hung up the phone, looking at the newly added hickeys on his neck. Fuck. 

He put the phone in his pocket and looked down at Ian who was still sitting on the ground. He brought his hand to his nose before speaking.

"Chris is here outside waiting for us. Let's go." He said, sounding rigid.

Ian looked up at him, still trying to take everything in that just happened. "Mickey I-"

"Not another word about this. What just happened here was a mistake. This never fucking happened and never will again. Got it?" Mickey interrupted bluntly. Ian looked down and nodded. 

It hadn't even been 24 hours since Ian became Chris' boyfriend and he already cheated on him with someone he barely knew. He also knew that Mickey was wrong; it _would_ happen again. It was only a matter of time. 

Ian stood up and followed Mickey out of the club and to the white Mercedes waiting for them.


	9. Which Side Are You On?

The car ride home was awkward, to say the least. Mickey and Ian were completely silent while Chris was singing along to the radio, unaware of the events that just occurred in the club. Chris had Ian's hand in a vice grip and Mickey sat in the backseat completely rigid. He kept his fists in a ball and sat up straight looking ahead.

Chris was really in his own world singing along to the music and Ian looked out the window in the side-view mirror to accidentally catch Mickey staring at him. Mickey narrowed his eyes and mouthed out silently the word 'stop'. Ian quickly looked away and down to his phone. Chris released Ian's hand to grip the steering wheel and Ian took the opportunity to text Jennifer. 

Ian (1:39AM): I really fucked up..

Jennifer (1:40AM): Fucked up how..

Before Ian went to text her back, Chris switched the radio and caused Ian and Mickey to freeze. It was fucking _Before He Cheats_ by Carrie Underwood. Mickey instantly hopped forward to change it. Chris swatted his hand away like he was an insect and started singing along while Ian almost broke out into laughter. Oh, the irony. Mickey moved up again to try and change it and Chris swatted at him again. 

"Christ, Mick! You don't like Carrie Underwood? This shit was my jam!"

Mickey sat back down and endured it. "Song's over played and overrated."

Now Ian couldn't hold it in and he let out a quiet chuckle. He had the balls to turn his head back to face a very uncomfortable Mickey. He wiggled his eyebrows up and down and Mickey instantly brought his hands to his face to cover his eyes. The fuck did he start...

They made it back to the house and Ian stepped out of the car, trying to discretely look over at Mickey, who was absolutely having none of that. Mickey kept his gaze straight ahead of him and practically ran inside leaving Chris and Ian still getting their things out of the car.

"The fuck's gotten into him?" Chris asked and Ian chuckled darkly. 

"I think he met someone and hooked up with them at the club. Maybe doesn't wanna talk about it." Ian said, knowing it was him that made the man run inside to hide out. Chris grinned and slapped a hand on the roof of the car. "Well shit! It's about damn time! He really deserves it. Poor kid works his ass off and never gets to share his time with someone special. Maybe this could finally be it for him! Did you see her?"

Ian's eyes glanced to the upper right-hand corner of the house to see blue eyes peeping out of the window not-so-discretely. "Uh no. Nah I didn't get to see her."

Chris nodded, excitement still on his face. "Alright let's go in. It's freezing out and I got champagne to celebrate!"

Ian smiled softly and went inside after Chris, seeing the man was no longer looking out the window. He sighed and entered the beautiful home. Iggy and Joey were in the room with the giant flat screen TV over the fireplace which was crackling and roaring with heat. They were playing Mario Kart, laughing and going back and forth over who the real Mario Kart King is. Ian chuckled and followed Chris to the kitchen.

"You hungry?" Chris asked, pulling out his leftovers from dinner he had after doing a job for Paco earlier. Ian shook his head no and just took in the beautiful kitchen as he always did. He sat at the island, Chris pouring him a glass of champagne and toasting. 

"To new beginnings and happy relationships." Chris toasted and Ian nearly choked. 

_Here's to nearly banging Mickey at my work place._

Ian held out his glass to toast him, raising an eyebrow, and sucked back the alcohol. Tony came down from his room talking to Siri angrily on his phone. 

"Siri do you know how to do anything!? Siri, search for funny cat videos!" He yelled into his phone looking like a complete doofus. He walked into the kitchen and Siri spoke back.

"Sure, here are bats that are pretty neat." It responded and his face turned even more red than it already was. 

"Jesus _fucking_ Christ! Siri I said _cat_ ... who the fuck are you?" He interrupted himself looking in Ian's direction. 

"My fucking boyfriend, douchebag. And why can't you just type your search into Google or something if Siri isn't working." Chris answered. 

Tony nodded at Ian and went back to face Chris. "Because typing in your search is so two years ago. We're technologically progressing, Christopher. Get with the times!" He teased and Chris flipped him off.

"The fuck's up with Mickey? He came storming up the stairs and slammed his door like a hormonal teenager having a tantrum." Tony asked.

"I think he might've found a girl, Tone!" Chris answered and Ian noticed Tony's face drop. Chris was reading the champagne bottle so he didn't notice when Tony brought his hand up to the bridge of his nose in frustration of some sort.

"I'll go talk to him." Tony said and immediately left the kitchen to head up stairs.

 _Please take me with you._ Ian thought to himself before nearly having a heart attack when Chris came up from behind him and hugged his waist.

"We've got some celebrating to do if I recall correctly." He whispered into Ian's ear, nibbling on the lobe. 

Ian so did not want to so anything with Chris but didn't want to upset the man. So he obliged and followed him upstairs to his bedroom. Secretly wishing it was Mickey he was following. 

 

********************************************

 

"Chris thinks you met a girl at the club." Tony said facing Mickey, both sitting on the bed. "Says he's excited for you and shit."

"What?! The fuck do you mean he thinks I met a girl?" Mickey hissed.

"Yeah I mean maybe it's the fucking animal markings on your neck that gave it away." Tony said causing Mickey to cover his neck with his hand out of instinct and blush.

"So who did you actually meet at the club and why isn't he home with you now?"

"Okay so three things. One, Chris doesn't know I'm fucking gay, remember? So I'm not bringing any dudes home. Two, I didn't meet anybody at the goddamn club, Jesus. And three..." Mickey said, hesitating. 

"And three...?" Tony said waiting for a response. He looked at his brother who looked beyond nervous and rubbing his thumb in a circle on his shirt. Tony narrowed his eyes and realization struck. "...No. _Fucking._ Way. Don't tell me you're.." Tony trailed off, covering his mouth to hold in laughter. Mickey looked up to glare at him but his glare fell short into a look of sadness, giving him the answer he needed.

"Jesus Christ! You know that's a fucking death wish right? Chris literally looked at him downstairs like he was a prized possession and not a human being. Mick I'd cut that shit out right fuckin now before shit goes way south. There are plenty of guys out there that'd be lucky to have you."

"Shit, Tone. Are you actually being nice?" Mickey teased, his brother flipping him off in response.

"I'm really sorry that a guy you actually like is taken, though. Just try to steer clear. Losing your head might not be worth it." Tony warned.

Mickey sighed and nodded. Tony stood up off of his bed and headed towards the door. "You also might want to come up with a story about your neck." He said, stepping out into the hall and grimacing. "And uh.. you might wanna stay in there. They're going at it pretty loudly." He shut the door behind him and left Mickey to himself. 

Mickey covered his head with his pillow, now noticing the sound of Chris moaning in the room next door. He felt jealous and didn't know why. Tonight was a complete mistake and he wouldn't be making a second one, either. He shut his eyes and tried to let sleep take him, relieving him from his thoughts.

 

********************************************

 

"No you fucking didn't!" Jennifer exclaimed, nearly spitting out her coffee all over Ian's face. Ian raised an eyebrow, sipping his coffee and setting into his couch.

"And then you fucked his best friend like 20 feet away afterwards?!" She asked, basically yelling at this point. One of the neighbors next door banged on the wall yelling be quiet. She put down her coffee and faced the wall yelling "Shut up!" In the loudest, manliest voice Ian's ever heard come out of her voice. He burst out laughing when she turned from facing the wall and back to him with am innocent smile on her face.

"Well when you say it like that.."

"You little slut! I seriously can't believe you right now. Jesus. Mickey must feel fucking heart broken though. That's actually super fucked up that you hooked up with him and then banged another guy right after in the room next door." She said with her very straightforward truthfulness that Ian hated. 

"Hey, now! Which side are you on? here?" Ian questioned. 

She put her imdex finger on her chin and started lightly tapping, looking deep in thought. She suddenly broke out of her thoughts. "Mickey's. Yeah definitely Mickey's."

"Gee thanks. Glad to know you've got my back." He said sarcastically. She chuckled and turned her body to face him.

"I know you don't wanna hear my thoughts but here's my thoughts. Mickey seems to be a genuine person. He doesn't seem clinically insane. And he's totally into you. Whereas Chris well...yuck you already know how I feel about him."

Ian sighed knowing he was getting into some serious shit, only getting deeper and deeper. He interlocked his fingers behind his head and heavily exhaled, holding the position and looking up at Jennifer. 

"You really think I'd have a shot with Mickey?"

"Well maybe after you make it up to him for porking his buddy next to him. But other than that, yes. I really think you should go for it. Chris is cute but Mickey is.. fucking gorgeous. What did you say be did for work? He seemed to be dressed pretty nicely the times I've seen him."

Ian thought hard about that question and furrowed his brow. "That's a great question actually. I don't know."

Jennifer smiled at him and brought the coffee mug up to her lips. She raised an eyebrow and before taking a sip she said, "Hmm. The more you know."

 

********************************************

 

Mickey was drving fast, Evo whipping through the traffic on the highway. He was gripping the steering wheel and staring straight ahead. His brothers were in the back and Chris in the passenger seat. They were on their way to do a beat down for some guys that owed Paco money.

Mickey content with the silence of the car ride was suddenly disrupted with Chris speaking up. "So what did you guys think of Ian?"

Mickey gripped his steering wheel tighter. "He was cool. He kicked your ass at Mario Kart, Ig!" Joey teased. Iggy retaliated by punching him in the arm making him bouncing off of Tony. Tony then shoved Joey back into Iggy, starting Milkovich Mayhem in Mickey's backseat. "Ay! Cut the shit back there!" Mickey yelled back to them.

"So what did _you_ think Mick?"

Tony tried looking at him through the rearview mirror, concerned and hoping he wasn't about to crack. 

"He seems nice. Congrats." Mickey bit out, not wanting to talk about it anymore. Chris could sense something was wrong though. Chris observed the hickeys on his kneck that he tried hiding with the collar of his coat. Chris raised an eyebrow. 

"So Ian said you met someone at the club last night. She really did a number on your neck." Chris said. Tony let out a girly laugh quickly bring his fist up to his mouth, holding it in. Mickey's eyes widened and he looked at Tony giving him the scariest death glare he's ever seen. Tony quickly looked out the window, laughter diminishing.

"Uh yeah. She uh. Yeah I met her at the bar. I made sure no creepy dudes were on your man and then I bought a dance from her. Things got.. heated and that was it. It was a onetime thing and that's that." Mickey said stumbling on his words. Chris moved his gaze from Mickey and back on to the road taking note of Mickey's reckless driving.

"She a redhead?" Chris asked. Both Tony and Mickey's hearts stopped. _Play it cool, Mick. Play it cool._

Before he answered Chris chuckled. "I saw her there the other night when we were both there. There was a female dancer with fire engine red hair. It was her right?"

Mickey felt relieved and nodded, going along with it. "Yup. That's the one."

"Nice! Looks like we both gotta thing for redheads." Chris said, reaching his fist out to Mickey waiting for him toredhead's. Mickey obliged, swallowing his guilt. "You fuckers back there should take note! He got a hot chick at the club I don't see any of you getting any lately!"

"Don't have much time with the constant shit Paco's been having us do lately." Iggy said dryly.

And that was the end of the conversation, to Mickey's utter relief. _Never fucking again. Last night was a onetime thing._


	10. Show Me What You Got

It had been two weeks since Ian and Chris had officially started dating and Mickey was ready to rip his eyeballs out. Ian seemed to also practically live there now. And everywhere he went, they were there. Mickey couldn't even breathe in his own fucking house anymore without feeling uncomfortable that Chris was dangling his 'piece' infront of his face. Mickey had enough and was only a matter of time before he fucking snapped.

"Mick, the boys and I gotta go out for.. uh work things. Mind staying here and keeping Ian company while I'm gone?" Chris asked. Mickey sighed noticeably and nodded.

"I needed to do car shit today so looks like he's joining." Mickey said, making Ian's heart drop hearing how uninterested he seemed to be in Ian's company.

"Awesome, thanks." Chris said and turned to Ian, wrapping his arms around his waist. "I'll see you tonight, baby." He kissed Ian, Ian leaving his eyes open to stare at Mickey who was staring back at him.

Chris and Mickey's brothers walked out the front door, Mickey watching until the Mercedes pulled out of the driveway and was out of sight. He turned back around and walked past Ian heading to the garage without a word. Ian followed, feeling aggravyed with the way Mickey was treating him. 

"The fuck, Mickey! You've been acting like I don't even exist. Like I don't even matter to you!" Ian screamed while Mickey walked over to his car and popped the hood. 

"You don't." Mickey said harshly.

Ian's brow furrowed and be stepped closer to Mickey who was holding up the hood of his car, looking at the engine.

"So you're gonna tell me that two weeks ago.. The night at the club. That meant nothing?" Ian asked, face becoming red with anger. It was his turn to suffer, Mickey decided.

"Exactly."

Ian contemplated before approaching the situation. He could either be angry about it which he truly had no right to be, or he could pursue his true needs. He decided quickly on which option to choose and took another step forward, getting closer to Mickey. 

"You sure about that?" Ian challenged. Mickey was still looking down at his engine, doing whatever it was that he was doing. Ian took another step closer so his body was nearly touching the backside of Mickey's body. Ian could feel the heat radiating off of Mickey. He took in his scent and his animalistic instincts kicked in. He was going for what he wanted and that was that. 

"Yup. I'm pretty fuckin sure. Now don't you gotta gay rights rally to attend or something?"

Ian slowly put his hands on Mickey's shoulders, causing the latter to jump feeling am electric sensation throughout his body. Ian started massaging his shoulders sensually and Mickey let his hood drop down. He spun around to face Ian. "This. This cannot happen. It just can't." Mickey said.

"Tell me to stay away Mickey and I will. No one's stopping you." Ian said, staring at him face to face with little space between them. The sexual tension growing as fast as Mickey's erection. Ian looked down, feeling Mickey's hardening cock pressed against his leg through his jeans. He raised an eyebrow and smirked.

Ian brought his hands on Mickey's chest and slid them down the front of his body as he slowly got down on his knees, stopping at his belt. Mickey shut his eyes, still contemplating whether or not he should give in. He opened his eyes to see Ian looking up at him through his lashes, smirking and knowing he definitely lost this battle.

Ian slowly began to unbuckled his belt, looking into Mickey's eyes the whole time. "Still waiting for you to stop me.."

"Ian you know we can't. Chris would literally kill the both of us."

Ian stopped what he was doing, hands frozen on Mickey's belt. He looked up at the latter with devious eyes. "So who's gonna tell him? Are you good at keeping secrets, Mickey?" Ian questioned.

"Yeah but we're both going to be unable to keep any if Chris finds out."

"So we'll make sure he doesn't find out then. I know you want this, Mickey. And every time I'm this close to you, your cock is always hard. So let's just cut the chit chat and let me suck your dick already."

Mickey couldn't believe what took over Ian. Weeks ago he could barely form a sentence, too nervous to even talk to him. Now he was practically ordering him around like it was nothing. Before Mickey could say anything else, Ian was unzipping and unbuttoning his jeans and pulling them down with haste. 

"Ian I really don't- oh...fuck...fucking shit don't stop." He said as he felt Ian taking him into his mouth. Mickey fisted Ian's hair and tugged as Ian sucked down the full length of his cock. Ian deep throating the man drove him absolutely crazy. Mickey rolled his head back in ecstasy, fluttering his eyes. He couldn't take it anymore, about to release down Ian's throat when they heard the front door opening.

Mickey came back down to reality and pushed Ian off of him, pulling up his jeans quickly and buttoning with haste. 

"Hello?" A voice called out from the doorway, sounds of footsteps approaching and Mickey cursed quietly. 

"Who's that?" Ian whispered, trying to make it look like he was doing something, anything, other than sucking Mickey's dick a few moments ago.

"My sister." He whispered, stepping back to the hood of his car trying to go back to what he was doing originally before Ian decided to test the forbidden waters.

"Ian Gallagher?" Mandy asked, startling both men with how quickly she got to the garage. 

"Uh hi, Mandy. Long time no see." Ian said nervously.

Mandy raised an eyebrow. She noticed the nervousness coming from Ian and she glanced over at her brother he seemed to be a bit shakey as well.

"None of my fucking business. Anyway, you guys know where Chris is? Paco texted me asking if I could help out with a run. Said he needed extra hands before you guys rough em up." Mickey whipped around with widened eyes indicating for her to shut the fuck up. She caught on very quickly and quickly brought her index finger over her lips knowing she just fucked up.

Ian's brow furrowed and he looked up at Mickey. "A run? Rough them up? .... Mickey, what is it that you guys actually do?"

"Sales." He answered curt.

Ian's eyes glanced over to Mandy who had fear across her face. He also noticed the same tattoo on her wrist that Chris and her brothers all had. 

"You don't do fucking sales. Chris is always leaving in the middle of the night for 'work stuff'. Shit, he's always leaving the second his phone guys, any time of the day. No sales job is 24/7 like that. Fucking tell me what you do, I wanna know."

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you."

"Hilarious. Now tell me." Ian Said, annoyance flowing through his body. Mandy spoke up this time.

"He's not joking, Ian. You already know too much so drop it."

" _I already know too much?_ The fuck? What are you in the mob?" Ian chuckled, but noticed Mickey and Mandy's faces were cold and hard.

"Wait. You're not in the mob, are you?" Ian asked, a bit frightened. 

"No. Not _the mob._ " Mickey answered and Mandy shot him a threatening look.

"Ian just drop it. This is serious and you could seriously get hurt. Fucking around with Chris is great and all but when it comes to his job, leave it alone."

Ian looked up at Mickey and Mandy and suddenly felt unsafe. The confidence he had with Mickey a few minutes ago instantly disappeared. He observed as Mandy gave Mickey a look and Mickey looked concerned. 

"Alright well I'm gonna go now. Nice seeing you, Ian. Hope to see you soon." She said, giving Mickey one last long gaze and left the garage. Mickey sighed and went back to working on his engine. He heard Ian about to say something and quickly interrupted, shutting whatever questions he had down instantly. 

"Don't." Mickey said. 

"Just..um..can you at least tell me if I'm safe here?" Ian asked and Mickey stopped working on his engine, freezing in place. He turned to face Ian with a coldness on his face. 

"No, Ian. You're not." Mickey said bluntly. It was the truth. There were other gangs who wanted nothing more than to take them off the streets as they pretty much ran Chicago. So they never knew who was watching them, where they were and when. They always needed to be prepared for the worst which is why Chris wanted Ian to stay with Mickey as he was sure someone had to have noticed Ian's new presence with the gang member these last few weeks.

Ian looked up at him in fear and Mickey further elaborated. "You're not safe _here_ but I swear to Christ I won't let a motherfucker lay a finger on you."

Ian didn't know hit to interpret Mickey's protectiveness of him, but it made him feel a lot better than he felt moments ago. His heart raced when Mickey held his gaze on Ian's eyes. Mickey turned around to let the hood of his car drop. He inhaled and exhaled loudly. "Wanna go for a drive?" Mickey asked, seeing Ian's face light up. He grinned and got into the car, waiting for Ian to get into the passenger side. He hit the button on the roof of the inside of the Evo, commanding the garage door to pull up and open.

He turned his head back to see Mandy's white, brand new Subaru WRX in the way, vanity plate reading 'GFY96'. _Funny_ Ian thought sarcastically remembering back to the days when Lip would say that to everyone. Mickey pulled out his phone to dial Mandy's number instead of just stepping out of the car to go ask her like a normal human being.

"Bitch, move your lesbaru! It's in the fucking way... Because I said so that's why... No Mandy..... Yes. Yes I will be careful.... Shit, okay mom! You coming out to move or what?... Okay bye." Mickey hung up the phone and noticed Ian laughing. 

"And what's so fucking funny, Firecrotch?"

"Oooh. Real original with that nickname. And you, you're just funny. I dunno." Ian said, looking down and feeling a but embarassed and nervous in Mickey's presence. 

Mickey chuckled darkly knowing he was making Ian nervous.

"I'm fucking highlarious." He said glancing over at Ian who was softly grinning and blushing. 

Mickey looked out of his rearview mirror to see Mandy holding up her middle finger the whole time from walking out in visible sight, to getting in her car and starting it. Her engine also roaring loudly, exhaust definitely custom. She held her middle finger up even as she backed out of the driveway and waited for her brother to pull out. He started his car, it being much louder than Mandy's. Ian had never been in it before and he fucking loved it.

He felt the vibrations from the exhaust literally going through his whole body and it thrilled him. He couldn't wait to see what Mickey was about to do with the car, adrenaline already starting. Mickey smirked when he saw Ian in his peripheral welcoming the excitement of his car. He put on his sunglasses and looked over to Ian. "You're gonna wanna buckle up. Trust me."

Ian stared back at him and nodded. He trusted him. He barely knew him and he completely trusted him. He felt the gears start to shift into reverse and Mickey peeled out of the driveway, stopping to face his sister in her own car as she was of course still holding up her middle finger. He revved his engine loudly, knowing the neighbors around them probably hated him. Mandy copied him and did the same, still holding up her goddamn middle finger. 

He raised an eyebrow, still revving furiously. He gripped the steering tight, feeling his adrenaline start to rise. "You ready?" He asked Ian. Ian nodded, his heart pounding out of his chest. "Okay. Hold on." Mickey said, shifting in to gear, turbo boosting them forward quickly like a sling shot. He passed Mandy, holding out his middle finger to her and let out a roaring laugh as he did so. He looked over to Ian who was absolutely enjoying himself. 

Mickey made it to the highway. He looked at Ian who was sharing the adrenaline rush and Mickey was ready to take it to another level. Luckily, Ian was on the same page as he looked over at Mickey, holding on the the hand bar above him, and said, "Show me what you've got." Mickey grinned, ready to show him.


	11. He's a Dead Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to say thank you so much for the feedback and kudos!! I love it and as always thank you for reading!! Now for the heavy: 
> 
>  
> 
> **Warning**
> 
> Abuse in this chapter.

Ian felt like the car was going to take off into flight with how fast Mickey was going. He was weaving in and out of traffic, not caring about the other drivers who were just obviously in his way. The rush that Ian was getting was truly exhilarating; he hadn't felt like this in years. Truly feeling _alive._

He couldn't help but notice Mickey smiling, face looking.. relaxed. This was his release, his happy place and his passion. It turned Ian on to see the man beside him so passionate about something other than trying to dedicate his life to being sort of an asshole. Ian looked at the speedometer and it read 119MPH. Ian couldn't help but let out a scream in excitement until those red and blue lights followed after the reckless Evo. His excitement quickly vanished and his stomach felt like it did a complete 360; almost like what Mickey's car was about to do.

"Fuck Mickey! Stop the car we're gonna get attested or something!" Ian yelled, eyes widened in fear. In response, Mickey gripped the steering wheel tighter and smirked. He looked straight ahead as he put his foot down on the gas, turbo boosting them forward letting off a whooshing sound. 

"Mickey stop! This isn't funny anymore we're literally going to go to jail!"

"Wanna bet?" Mickey challenged as he pushed the speed a little further, now hitting 136MPH causing the red head to hold onto his own seat for dear life. 

"What no?! I do not _wanna bet!_ I get it your car is super cool and fast can we just stop now there are now 3 staties behind us!"

Mickey chuckled darkly as he looked through his rearview mirror to see them. One of them got on the inter com, "Slow down and stop the vehicle!"

Mickey looked over to Ian who was frightened, the force of the speed pushing him back into the seat. He saw a meridian entry way/exit in between the side of the road they were currently on and the opposite side of the road, mostly surrounded by tree's. The entryway was barely visible so Mickey knew it was the perfect getaway. Ian looked over at Mickey and face turning white as a ghost when he followed Mickey's gaze the the meridian entryway that was quickly approaching. 

"Oh my God... Oh my God... Oh my _fucking_ God." Ian repeated knowing what Mickey was about to do. Mickey narrowed his view to the now very close meridian entryway and yelled out to Ian over the loudness of the car and turbo, "Better hold the fuck on, Red!"

"Holy....wait! No let me out Mickey wait!!!!!" Ian screamed as Mickey started to laugh, Ian petrified and really starting to think Mickey was insane. 

Mickey slammed his feet down on the break, cutting the wheel to the left and creating a smoke cloud from the tires harshly ripping against the road. 

"Holy mother of Jesus we're gonna _DIE_ !!" Ian screamed holding on to anything he could as he felt like his life was flashing before his eyes only to realize that it was just the lights on the state troopers' cars that were flashing. The car screeched and drifted across the entryway and onto the opposite side of the road. It was fish tailing as Mickey was trying to regain control. 

Once control was fully regained Mickey floored it back up to high speeds up the highway and off to the closest exit. Ian literally did not move a muscle, completey tensed up and stiff, holding his grip on the seat. Mickey shook his head in amusement.

He saw a large, run down garage next to an abandoned gas station and entered it, parking his car all the way in the back out of sight. He quickly got out of the car, Ian still not moving and face expressionless, and jogged over to pull the doors of the garage down. He turned around to find Ian still stiff as a board.

"You coming out of the car or what?" Mickey asked, chuckling at Ian and pulling out his phone to text Jimmy telling him to come to the abandoned gas station with tires and new plates. 

He walked over to the car and opened the passenger door to quicken the process of the red head exiting the car. Ian very slowly moved his head to the right to look at Mickey. 

"..You...S-s-s.." Was all that Ian got mumble out.

Mickey's amusement turned to worry when he thought for a second that he might have actually scared the shitout of him. "Hey man, are you okay?"

"I th-think I died. Am I dead? I died. It happened." Ian started going off still in shock.

Mickey couldn't help himself, letting out a laugh and Ian's brow furrowed. 

"I'm dead aren't I? Are you even real right now am I dead?" Ian asked looking dumbfounded. 

"Christ Ian, we're not dead! Though I think my tires might be and probably my suspension. Jimmy will fix it up for me."

Ian widened his eyes, starting to realize what was happening and coming out of his state of shock. He loosened his grip and muscles, patting himself down to make sure he was still in one piece. He unbuckled and pushed Mickey back with force. Mickey just laughed harder in response. 

"What the _fuck._ You realize you're probably going to be all over the news?! How are we getting home, huh? You almost killed us!"

"Oh stop it, sensitive Sally. You're fuckin fine. You told me to show you what I got so it was only polite for me to do so." Mickey teased. "And don't act like you didn't like it! That was a once in a life time thrill and you'd never get that feeling from anyone else." He continued, laughter diminishing and his face turning serious. 

He was right. Ian fucking loved it even if he wasn't about to admit it. The danger and recklessness made him crave more like a true adrenaline junkie. He _needed_ more. He needed Mickey. 

Ian wrapped his arms around the man's kneck and began crashing his lips in to the latter's, heart pounding out of his chest from the adrenaline. Mickey kissed back with force bringing his arms down around Ian's waist to pull him in closer. Before things could continue, the garage door started to open and Mickey released from Ian, pushing him back.

Jimmy entered the garage and smirked. "What's going on in _here?"_ he asked causing Mickey to sniff and bring his hand up to his nose. Mickey gave Jimmy a stone cold glare that chilled every bone in his body. He flung his hands up in surrender. "None of my business I saw nothing." He said nervously. 

"Fucking right. You saw nothing." Mickey repeated. Jimmy nodded and walked over to the car that was still hot and crackling. 

"I brought the plates and the tires are in the van outside along with my crew. You need shit for the suspension, too? I brought the parts just in case. You seem to wreck it every time you go all Fast and the Furious." Jimmy said changing the subject. Mickey knew that Jimmy was petrified of him so he was more than confident that the man would keep his mouth shut. 

"Yes. Thanks. How long? You know I'm impatient and don't like to wait." Mickey asked.

"I got six men including myself to work on it. I'd say no longer than 3 hours maybe 4 at most?" Jimmy said, hoping it was a good enough answer for Mickey. 

"Guess that'll have to do. Looks like we're stuck here." Mickey sighed over to Ian. Ian had a puzzled look on his face as to why this random guy was coming here to change his plates and tires and everything. 

"Uh I could call Jennifer to scoop us for a few hours. We could just hang at my place." Ian suggested, not knowing when a good time would be to question what the fuck this sketchy shit was all about.

Mickey contemplated for a moment but decided to give in as he already dipped his toes into temptation a few times today and it was only 10 am.

"Yeah okay."

"Alright I'll text her now." Ian replied.

 

Ian (10:03AM): Hey you think you could pick me and Mickey up and bring us back to my place? I'll give you twenty bucks for gas money. 

Jennifer (10:04AM): Be there in twenty. Just text me the address. A please promise me you're not going to say a word infront of Mickey when you see me okay?

Jennifer (10:04AM): P.s... MICKEY?!?! Omg you little slut!

Ian (10:05AM): What do you mean by that?

She didn't respond and Ian put the phone back in his pocket, wondering what she meant her cryptic message. 

"She coming?" Mickey asked, taking note of the redhead's concern. 

"Yeah, uh, I think something's wrong though." He said showing Mickey the message making him furrow his brow. 

Jimmy interrupted them, "Hey Mick. Chris know you were out being Vin Diesel this morning? You uh.. may or may not have made it to the internet on some car forum." He said, showing Mickey the video of the car chase and a replay of his car ripping and roaring down the highway and cutting hard across it to the other side.

"Shit that looked fucking dope!" Mickey exclaimed. "How'd you find that?" 

"My buddy Rocko over there working on your suspension is a part of the forum since he's so into cars and recognized you. You do look pretty bat shit crazy in this video if I'm gonna be honest." Jimmy chuckled. 

Mickey flipped him off. Jimmy instantly put the phone back into his pocket and paced back to the car that was now up on the lift being worked on.

Ian got a text and pulled out his phone. Ugh. 

Chris (10:15AM): Hey baby. How's it going?

Ian (10:16AM): Fine.

Chris (10:16AM): My day's going great thanks for asking

Chris (10:16AM): Mickey playing nice?

Ian's face turned red. _Oh yes. He was playing very nice._

Ian (10:17AM): Lol. What time you gonna be home?

Chris (10:17AM) Probably really late. Mickey's brothers will be home around 5 but my boss needs me to do some overtime. Can't wait to see you baby.

Ian nearly gagged at the message which was really not a good thing to be doing when it was his own boyfriend that he was disgusted by, he thought. 

His thoughts were interrupted by another text and he sighed wondering what kind of cheesy shit Chris was about to send him now. To his relief, it wasn't Chris. 

Jennifer (10:20AM) Here outside. This is kinda sketchy by the way the gas station looks like it has been abandoned for years. 

"Jennifer's here." Ian informed Mickey. He nodded and walked over to Jimmy. "I'll be back at one o'clock. My car better be fuckin mint by then." He warned Jimmy who was staring blankly at him in fear. He gulped and nodded not wanting to piss Mickey off. Mickey smirked at how frightened he made the man. He turned back aroind to face Ian and headed out of the garage to Jennifer's jeep. 

Mickey got in the back and Ian in the front. As Ian got in he looked over at Jennifer to greet her and he froze, completely rigid as rage entered his entire body. Her bottom lip was completey busted, cheek and eye a blackish purple color. Her neck had red hand marks around it. And he could see bruises on her collar bone.

She looked down, having a mixture sadness and embarrassment in her eyes and Ian clenched his fists tightly into a ball. He was seeing red. "Who fucking did this to you.." Ian said causing Mickey to look in her direction.

"I fell." She lied blatantly, still looking down. Mickey felt pure sadness for her, remembering how his piece of shit father used to hit Mandy sometimes. 

"Jennifer you need to tell me right-"

"I already told you I don't wanna fucking talk about it Christ! Now can we just go to your place now and can you stop looking at me like I'm some sort of fucking incapable weakling?!" She hissed and Ian didn't oblige to her request. 

"It was fucking Jason, wasn't it? That piece of dog shit has hit you before. I fucking know it was him." Ian gritted through his teeth. Mickey pulled out his phone instantly and sent a text to Chris and his brothers in the group chat they were all in .

Mickey (10:25AM): Don't make plans tonight. We have a job to do. 

Tony (10:27AM) What kind of job?

Mickey (10:28AM): We're snuffing out a grown man who beats on helpless girls.

Chris (10:30AM): We'll be there. When and where. 

Mickey looked up from his phone momentarily to see Jennifer wrapping her arms around Ian and sobbing. He felt rage and wanted nothing more than to kill this motherfucker with his bare hands. Ian opened his eyes, moving them on to Mickey whose face was colorless and could feel the anger radiating off of him.

Mickey looked back down at his phone.

Mickey (10:33AM): I'm fucking serious. This guy is a dead fucking man. 1 am. I'll text you the address so we can meet at his place. This fucker's gonna wish he never decided to lay a hand on any female ever. 

He put down the phone and gently put a hand on Jennifer's shoulder for comfort. She winced from the touch in pain which made Mickey and Ian even more upset. Jennifer pulled herself together and took off, heading to Ian's apartment. Ian stared out the window wishing he could fucking kill Jason. Mickey stared out the window _knowing_ he was going to kill Jason tonight.


	12. Gang Violence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Warning**
> 
> Graphic violence. Moving forward I'm not going to include warnings but be weary that this story _does_ include violence of all different types.

Mickey and Ian sat at the kitchen table not saying a word as they could hear Jennifer's crying through the door of the bathroom. Ian hated seeing his best friend like this and wished there was something he could do to help. She wanted to be alone in the bathroom but also close to people where she wasn't completely alone. 

Mickey snatched her phone off the table that she left out before heading to the bathroom. He unlocked it and started scrolling. 

"Mickey what the fuck are you doing?" Ian asked, leaning forward to try and peak. Mickey moved to the side so Ian couldn't see that he was looking for Jason's contact to get his last name in order for him to find out where he lives and dig up other shit on him. 

"Seriously Mick what are you doing with her phone?" Ian asked, starting to get annoyed. 

"Getting your phone number." He partially lied as he pulled out his phone next to Jennifer's and entered Ian's phone number into his phone. He closed her phone and put it back on the table once Ian's information was entered and once he put a note in his phone reading Jason's last name. _Garcia. Wonder if he's related to Jose?_ Mickey thought to himself thinking back to the time that Paco had him steal from Jose Garcia who was also a member of another gang wanting to take Paco's out. 

"You could have just asked for my number. Jesus." Ian said.

"Don't want it. Only got it in case of any emergencies arising." Mickey lied.

"Oh here we go again with the whole pretending to not like me bullshit that you tried pulling this morning before allowing me to suck your dick." Ian shot back.

"Ay I wasn't the one doing the sucking! That makes _you_ the one who's chasing after _me."_

"Fine Mickey. We'll see how long you keep this charade up but if I recall correctly _you_ were the one who approached _me_ in the fucking club that night. Not the other way around. So why don't you just cut the shit and admit you like me already!" Ian retorted. 

"Because we goddamn can't happen, Ian! Today was stupid. And reckless. I should have never went to the club that night and I definitely shouldn't have kissed you. This needs to stop right fucking now before we're in too deep."

"I'd say we already dove in head fucking first. Just.. can we at least try?" Ian pleaded.

"Abso-fucking-lutely not! Did you get amnesia from the car ride I took you on earlier and forget you have a boyfriend who is also my sociopathic, insane accessory? Which taking you out for that drive was also a fuckin mistake, might I add."

Ian's eyes widened as Mickey foolishly said the word 'accessory'.

"Fuck. Shit. Um. Fuck I meant-"

"Mickey.. accessory to what.." Ian asked. Mickey sighed knowing he fucked up letting the cat out of the bag. He opened his mouth to answer when they were interrupted by Jennifer opening the bathroom door causing the two men to jump in their seats, startled by her sudden movement. 

"Sorry about that, guys. It's been a rough 24 hours." Jennifer said apologetically. Before Ian answered Mickey cut him off.

"Don't you fuckin apologize. Whoever did that to you is a lowlife piece of shit and I'm sure he'll get what he deserves." 

Both Ian and Jennifer stared at him feeling a bit frightened with how Mickey said those.

_Accessory.. nice cars.. nice house.. lots of money.. late night 'jobs'.. matching tattoos on the wrist.._ Ian thought to himself trying to piece it all together in his head.

"Thanks Mickey." Jennifer said softly. Though she was definitely frightened by the man, she also felt safe in his presence knowing he'd never hurt her.

_Accessory? As in crime..?_

 

**************************************

 

"He lives down town. He's Jose Garcia's fucking brother so it'll be like taking care of two birds with one stone right?" Mickey questioned to Chris and his brothers who were in the basement of their house getting their weapons, masks, and other miscellaneous items ready for the beat down. 

"I wanna go and get this shit over with. Haven't seen Ian all day and I'm itchin for some gingerbread." Chris said bluntly causing the other men to gag. Mickey balled his fist in jealous and anger. He decided to take it out on their victim.

Mickey lead them upstairs and got in his newly fixed-up car deciding to take it incase they needed a quick getaway. The rest of the men got in and they drove to their destination. No one was home but Mickey knew Jason would be home soon from Facebook stalking him earlier seeing he was out at a strip club tonight. 

They quickly and quietly broke into the home and sat at the kitchen table. Waiting. They saw headlights approaching only a few minutes later and his. Jason unlocked the door and made it into the house, stumbling. He was trashed. _Easy prey._ Mickey thought. 

"Hello?" Jason called out making sure no one else was home. He stumbled into the kitchen and reached for the light switch while Iggy quickly ran to the door to the front door to lock it. The light switch didn't work but he continued to drunkenly try to flip it on and off. Before he got home they made sure to cut the power.

"Sup, pretty boy." Chris said muffled through his mask, startling him and swinging a baseball bat into his abdomen. Jason bent over holding his abdomen in pain. Chris laughed darkly and swung again down onto his kneecap busting it. The man dropped to his knees screaming in pain. Iggy and Joey joined in on the beating, kicking and punching him as blood spilled onto the floor. Tony was filming it on a video camera so they could give it to Jose as a warning to back the fuck off of their crew.

Mickey walked in and held his hand up indicating that the men stop with the beating. He looked down at the man who had been beaten to a bloody pulp, barely moving anymore. Mickey crouched down. "Do you feel fucking helpless right now?"

Silence. 

"Do you feel hopeless?" Mickey gritted through his teeth.

Silence.

"Do you feel the feelings you made Jennifer feel after fucking beating her and strangling her?" Mickey barely got out, completely enraged. 

"Jennifer.." He quietly mumbled spitting out blood through missing and broken teeth 

"Don't even say her _fucking_ name. I want this voice to be the last you ever hear. I want you hopeless. I want you helpless. I want you fucking terrified."

Jason let out a groan and what sounded like a cry. Mickey gently put his hand on the man's bloody cheek. "There there. Should have thought before beating women you piece of shit."

Before Mickey could continue with his fear tactic, Chris whipped out his gun and shot Jason in the head. His body went limp and the men stood still in shock of Chris' quick action. Tony ended the video and closed the camera. 

"That wasn't part of the fucking plan!" Tony yelled in disbelief. He continued, "We were supposed to scare the shit out of him and put him in the hospital not fucking shoot him in the head and ending the fear and pain he deserved and causing a war with the his brother and the rest of the Ryders! We're literally so fucked right now."

"I wanted to kill him but I thought we were going with what Tony said because of how risky killing him was? We were all in agreement Chris! The Ryders are going to fucking know it was us you goddamn idiot!" Mickey yelled, standing up to face the man.

"I told you fucks that I wanted to get home to Ian." Chris said in aggravation.

"Jesus fucking Christ he's with Jennifer for the night! Keep it in your goddamn pants and stop thinking with your dick! What if this were a job ordered by Paco and you just fucked it up? He'd fucking kill you. And now you just put a deathwish on each of our asses all because you wanna get laid?! Un-fucking-believable." Mickey yelled back.

"Pick the body up and we're dumping him into the river after we cut him up." Chris ordered to the other Milkovichs and they obliged. He got closer to Mickey. 

"And if you ever talk down to me again, that's going to be you down there." Chris snapped pointing at the dead body completey serious. Mickey looked down feeling inferior.

"Fucking move! Let's go!" Chris ordered and the men grabbed the body while Mickey and Chris cleaned up the bloody mess on the floor. They were silent and the tension was thick. Iggy came in to check on them and saw that they had finally finished cleaning up the gore. They hopped in Mickey's car with the dead body in pieces in the trunk and headed to the river to dump it.

 

**************************************

 

Ian and Jennifer woke up around noon, cuddled in his bed. They had a late night of talking and crying and watching movies while eating junk food. Ian got up first to pour some coffee when his phone went off.

Unknown Number (11:56AM): Ian. You and Jennifer need to stay at your place for a few days. Don't leave and don't answer the door to ANYONE. Do you understand?

Ian (11:57AM): Who the fuck is this? This isn't funny. 

Unknown Number (11:59AM): Not trying to be. This is important.

Unknown Number (11:59AM): It's Mickey 

"Oh my God!" Jennifer yelled out in terror coming from the bedroom. Ian ran to the bedroom to see her holding her hand over her mouth, eyes wide, and looking down at her phone on the bed. Ian slowly picked the phone up and looked at the news article. Ian's eyes widened and he ran out to the living room to turn on the TV to the news.

_Police say they found pieces of a a mutilated body said to be Jason Garcia, 26 of Chicago. The remains body, including the severed head, was identified early this morning and an elderly man reported finding the body parts washed up along the river during his morning walk. The body was identified by the victim's brother, Jose Garcia, 29. Jose stated his brother never came home last night and had reason to believe he was in some sort of trouble. The body had a V carved into what was left of his leg. Could this be more gang violence rocking Chicago or the start of a psychopathic killer marking his victims? I'm Abby Lee and this is Channel 7 News._

Ian's pupils grew large as he stared at the TV. He knew this was Mickey. He couldn't believe it but he knew it was him.

_Accessory.. gang related violence.. V tattoo carved into the body that they all share on their wrists.._

Ian's eyes widened more when realization struck him. Mickey belonged to a gang. So did Chris. So did Mandy. And so did Mickey's brothers.


	13. Confrontations and Confessions

Paco was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back and his head facing forward the entire time. The five men were sitting at the table in the hideout watching Paco slowly lose his shit. Mickey felt like he was going to vomit ever since he got the text from his boss saying to turn on the news, already knowing what particular murder story would be on. He was beyond shocked that the body, or what was left of the body for that matter, was already found. He knew that the Chicago PD were starting to really get on top of the crimes and gang violence in the city. It had to be the worst kind of luck for that fucking old guy to have found the body only hours after the murder took place.

Chris stood up, face looking unimpressed with everything. "Alright I'm headin out. I wanna take Ian to lunch. Haven't seen him for-"

"You sit your lilly white ass back down! Now!" Paco bellowed, fury raging in his eyes. Chris sat right down and stared at his boss. Paco shut his eyes and brought his hands to his temples before speaking. 

"Do you retards have any fucking clue what you just did." Paco said under his breath, but the others heard him crystal clear. He opened his eyes to look at them. "Who was the dumbfuck who carved the V into the guy's leg?"

Silence.

Paco pulled out his glock, cocked it, and began shooting at the ground by their feet causing the men to jump to the side in fear. 

"Who. Fucking. DID IT!?" He repeated and Joey slowly raised a shaky hand. Paco's eyes went wild and he charged at the man. He shoved Joey to the ground, his body landing on top of Joey's. Before he pistol whipped him, he suddenly stopped. They both panted heavily, the other men watching them with wide eyes. Paco slowly got up.

"Do you realize you snuffed out one of the Ryders brothers? And you marked him with _our_ fucking signature. What other fucking gangs in Chicago use the V symbol huh? They'll fucking know it was us and then we've got a huge fucking target on our backs which makes it harder to so our jobs and runs. Why did you even go after this kid in the first place?" Paco asked beyond agitated.

"He beats women, boss. He beat Ian's best friend badly and-"

"Mickey I don't give a flying motherfuck if the chick had the best pussy you ever encountered. I don't care if the bitch's vagina tasted like goddamn ambrosia. You _don't_ put your brothers at risk over some skank!" Pack interrupted. 

"I'm not fucking her! Jesus!" Mickey yelled back to his boss.

"Then why did you kill him?!"

" _I_ didn't fuckin kill him. I wanted to rough him up. Put him in the hospital. Send a message to him to stop being a pussy ass piece of shit for beating women and to send the Ryders a message that the Vandals aren't one to fuck with! Our crew was all on board until one of us suddenly wasn't." Mickey said bluntly. 

"One of us meaning Chris, I assume." Paco said, shifting his gaze to Chris. He sighed. "I'm very disappointed. You don't turn your back on your brothers. Ever. Blood or not. You ride with them and you die with them. You don't get the option to go rogue." Paco lectured. The Milkovich brothers rolled their eyes at how calm Paco was being to Chris as he was obviously Paco's favorite. 

"Sorry boss. I just wanted to see Ian. I was antsy and the fucker deserved it. Mick said Jennifer looked really bad. It won't happen again." Chris said and Paco nodded. Mickey's blood was boiling as Paco had just nearly tried to rip him a new one for thinking he killed the man out of stupidity and lust for Jennifer. Whereas he was fine with what Chris was saying. _Fucking douchebags._

Chris stood up again knowing he had his boss in his back pocket, "I really miss Ian. Is it cool if I go now? Maybe skip the run today?"

"Ian can't leave the house the fuck's wrong with you?!" Mickey hissed out and instantly regretted the words ever leaving his mouth. Chris spun around from looking at Paco to face Mickey in one swift movement. 

"The fuck you mean he can't leave the house?"

"I told him not to leave this morning and to lay low for a few days. What if Jose and his crew come after us or worse.. come after Ian?" Mickey quickly looked away wanting to dismiss the thought and hide his interest in Chris' boyfriend. 

"This morning? You saw him?" Chris questioned suspiciously. 

"No I texted him." Mickey replied trying to sound nonchalant. 

"And who fucking said you could text him, Mick?" Chris said now starting to step closer to the man, fists balled up tightly. 

"Jesus. Relax man it's nothing like that at all! Just thought you'd want him to be safe." Mickey lied, feeling relief when he noticed Chris starting to relax. Chris, as if a switch went off in his brain, turned down his anger and put a soft smile on his face. Mickey thought he'd never looked more crazy than he did right now in this moment. Chris put a hand on Mickey's cheek and patted it. Chris' switch went off again, face dropping to complete seriousness and staring Mickey dead in the eyes.

"That's good. Because if I ever found out _anyone_ was trying to touch what's mine... They'd be floating down the river in fucking pieces like that scumbag." The switch went off again. He put on another terrifying smile. "See ya tonight. And don't wait up. Ian and I have a lot of catching up to do." Chris said and winked. Mickey's stomach was in knots with fear. He also left Mickey feeling whiplash with the man's emotions changing faster than the speed of his Evo.

Chris left the room and got in his Mercedes, quickly out of sight. Paco walked over to Mickey and put a hand on his shoulder, startling the man. "Well I was gonna have Chris do this but he's too dick whipped for anything business related today. You and your brothers need to handle a drive-by for me tonight." Paco said. 

"Drive by as in.. shooting?!" Iggy asked and his brothers sighed and tsked at his stupidity. 

"No, Iggy. A drive-by fucking kumbaya." Paco said sarcastically.

They chuckled and shook their heads at Iggy when he shrugged his shoulders indicating he didn't know what was meant by the terminology.

Mickey sniffed out another chuckle and looked down at his phone. His heart fluttered. 

Ian (12:53PM): Be honest with me right now. Cards out on the table. Do you like me?

Mickey (12:53PM): Don't start with this shit again. Not going to happen. 

Ian (12:54PM) For a guy who's supposed to be this tough gangster, you give in to me pretty easily. 

Mickey (12:55PM): Gangster? You saying I'm fly as a G, Gallagher?

Ian (12:55PM): No. I'm calling you what you are.

Mickey (12:57PM): Yeah I'd say I'm pretty gangster. That why you can't stay away?

Ian (12:57PM): I know who you are, Mickey. Who your brothers and Mandy and Chris are. You may not think I do, but I do.

Mickey gripped his phone so tight that he could practically shatter it in his hold. Not only did these last few weeks start going really south for him, he now had to stop Ian's curiosity from getting them both killed. Mickey's life wasn't a rap video. It was dangerous and harsh. But Ian couldn't stay away anymore. He craved the danger and the adrenaline, and knew Mickey was his fix. Mickey's phone rang and he walked out of the hideout to answer the call. 

"Ian?"

"I wanna know, Mickey." Ian said, voice steady.

"You wanna know fucking what? You know way too much and need to understand this isn't a fucking game anymore. You could literally get yourself killed associating with me or Chris." Mickey warned with worry in his voice.

"What? Fuck Chris I'm not talking about him! I'm talking about you, Mick. I wanna know _you._ I wanna know everything about you. I can't stay away any longer and I know you feel it too."

Mickey sniffed and brought his hand to his nose before speaking. _Time to confess._

"Ian.. We really can't do this. Especially not when you're with Chris. I like you, a lot and I do fuckin feel it. Christ, ever since that night at Divine I knew I was in over my head and lost my will to stay away. But that doesn't matter because this just can't happen and I'm too fuckin dangerous for your vanilla lifestyle." 

"Oh please. Vanilla lifestyle? I'm a fucking stripper in the Southside of Chicago. My life is not 'Vanilla'." 

"Look, I gotta go. I'll probably see you later since Chris wants to see you. I gotta do a job tonight so I'll be in late. Talk to you later." Mickey said, hanging up the phone before Ian could interject. His heart was pounding out of his chest. He knew he was a goddamn problem in Ian's fairly normal life, but he was losing control of trying to stay away from the redhead. His phone vibrated and he pulled it out to look at the text. 

Ian (1:17PM): You're right. You're dangerous. And I want to live dangerously with you. Tonight, show me. I'll get Chris too liquored up so he passes out and once he does, show me how to live dangerously Mickey. 

Mickey bit his lip. Ian's straightforwardness was turning him on. He knew if he answered this message he was fucked. But he also knew that he was already fucked anyway for taking bites out of the forbidden fruit. The thought of him being bent over by Ian with Chris in the room next to them was thrilling enough. His cock twitched at the thought and he answered the message. 

Mickey (1:21PM): Okay. 


	14. Are You Ready?

"You fuckers ready? I've got an ass cramp from sitting in this freaking car for the last hour!" Tony loudly whispered to his brothers inside of Mickey's car. They were parked in a dark alley waiting for the three men to come out of the laundromat across the street. Paco ordered a drive-by to take them all out as they stole money from him. Nobody stole from Paco and lived to tell the tale. They all pulled on their masks and got their machine guns ready.

This was one of those jobs that Mickey hated doing. He usually had to do the shooting while Tony drove but he felt he had enough blood on his hands in a matter of a twenty-four hour span. Usually after any jobs or runs that involved death, Mickey would go home and cry. He didn't let anyone see the sadness when in the moment, but released his emotions in private. He felt stuck. He _was_ stuck. His soul was bound to this gang and he fucking knew it. He regretted joinging it every single day and truly wanted nothing more than to no longer be a part of it.

"There they are!" Joey pointed out to the men starting to walk out of the shitty, run down laundromat. Mickey shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and shifted into drive gunning it out of the alley. He took a right turn out of the alley drifting in to the street causing the three men to turn their heads at the reckless driver. Realization struck as it was a very familiar black Evo that was ferociously spinning out into a circle and heading their way in full force.

The men started to run but didn't even have a chance. Iggy and Tony held out the automatic guns and started shooting as Mickey zoomed by. Mickey instantly regretted doing so, but he looked in his rearview mirror only to find lifeless bodies on the sidewalk. He left his mask on to hide the anger and sadness developing on his face while his brothers took theirs off.

"This shit never gets any easier.." Joey trailed off, staring out his window. His brothers remained silent and he let out a sigh. They all wanted out of this life style but very clearly understood that it was impossible to do so while still being able to breathe. 

Mickey arrived to the house and sent Paco a text that said "done" so he knew everything was taken care of with his job request. Mickey looked up from his phone to see the white Mercedes was there. He let out a frustrated sigh and got out of the car not knowing what he'd be walking in to. 

He and his brothers went up to the door, noticing it had been locked. He pulled out his keys, cursing under his breath, expecting to walk into something he definitely didn't want to see. Taken by surprise, before he was even able to open the door, Ian swung it open. His pupils were dilated and he looked sleepy. It had been nearly eleven o'clock so he could have just been tired, but Mickey noticed a similar look on the redhead that he would have after smoking a shit ton of weed. _Is he fucking high?_

"Hey guys! Late night in the office?" Ian teased nudging his elbow in to Mickey's arm causing him to shoot a glare in the redhead's direction. Ian laughed and moved out of the way to open the door. Mickey continuing to glare walked through inside to see Chris launched over the beautiful kitchen island snoring away. Mickey couldn't help but grin and his brothers gave eachother devious looks.

"Let's fuck with him for dipping out on us for that dr-" Iggy started to say, Tony punching him in the arm to try and avoid Ian from hearing anything. Little did they know, Ian already knew.

"For dipping out on us for a late night in the office!" Iggy corrected, his brothers looking over at him shaking their heads in annoyance at his stupidity. _How does this fucker even make it through the day being that dense._ Mickey thought to himself. Ian smiled knowingly to Mickey, causing him to look away. 

His brothers walked over to Chris who was completely passed out and started drawing on him. They giggled like little girls at their art on his face. Mickey rolled his eyes and headed for the stairs. Ian followed.

"Wait. I held my end of the bargain now you hold yours." Ian said almost sounding desperate. 

"Gallagher, I don't have time for this shit right now. I just need to be alone for a bit, okay?" Mickey pleaded, wanting to go to his room to release the built up anger and sadness from the job tonight. Mickey's phone buzzed and he sighed heavily knowing if it wasn't Ian, Chris, or his brothers, it could only be one other person. 

Paco (11:13PM): Thanks. I have one more favor for tonight. I need just you to rob Valinski. He's asleep I presume, but I need all the shit in his small safe. He hasn't paid me back for helping him out in a time of need. I would kill him but I'm feeling generous tonight. Get the safe and bring it to me. Tonight. 

Mickey huffed and groaned, just wanting to relax already. This life didn't let you relax, though. He adjusted his coat and headed for the door without a word to Ian. He opened the door and paced over to the Evo. Ian followed him outside and grabbed his arm. 

"Mickey where are you going?!" 

"Need to do a job. Duty calls." He said sarcastically, holding up the phone. Ian sighed and tugged on the man's arm again.

"I want to come with you."

"What? Fuck no!" Mickey answered very aggravated by the redhead's request. 

"I wanna know, Mick. I wanna know everything about you and everything you do."

"No you fuckin don't, Ian. This isn't a life anyone wants once you're in. And once you're in, you never ever get to leave. I don't even want you near me when I'm doing these runs because I can't let this life become any closer to you then I've already allowed." Mickey said, eyes softening at the redhead. Ian exhaled loudly. 

"Mickey I'm a grown up. I know what I want and I can handle myself. I fuckin just drugged up Chris so that I could be with you! Isn't that unlawful enough for you?"

Mickey ripped his arm out of Ian's vice grip and brought his hand up to his nose. He chuckled darkly, though the situation not being funny at all. " _Unlawful_ enough for me? Christ! I don't want you acting 'unlawful' at all! I need you to stay as far the fuck away from me as possible."

Ian got closer to the man, bodies almost touching, sexual tension building quickly. He brought his voice, "I can't stay away from you anymore. I need you, Mick. You give me a sense of feeling fucking alive. You make me want to live my life again. You're so fucking good for me and you know it." He put his hands on Mickey's hips and for a second, Mickey wanted to give in. He quickly pulled away and took a step back and shook his head. 

"Good for you? I'm no good for you, Ian. I'm a fucking criminal! Don't you get that? I've killed people. I don't like it but I have. I'm too dangerous for you. This right here, you and me, is too fucking dangerous. I told you before and I'm going to keep telling you until you start to get it; we can't happen."

"Then why did you have this conversation earlier with me basically leading me to believe that we could try this out? I don't fucking buy it, Mickey."

"Because I'm fucking stupid, okay?! Shit, my boss and Chris don't even know I'm gay let alone having a secret affair behind Chris' back with his own goddamn boyfriend. This is way too risky and me doing what I do could wind up getting you killed, Ian! Now please go back inside and stop trying to grab on to me." He said, swatting Ian away.

Mickey walked over to the Evo only to get his arm pulled back again by a very persistent redhead. "I don't care." He said, looking deep into Mickey's eyes. "I don't care that you're a gangster or a criminal. I don't care if you've killed people. I don't care if you haven't come out to your friends or whoever. I care about you. I care about how you make me feel. I need this, Mickey. And I know you do too. Stop trying to shut me out and fucking let me in already. We can do this. It's going to be risky as hell, but we can make this work."

Mickey sighed deeply, knowing Ian would never take no as an answer. He interlocked his fingers and cradled the back of his head, eyes looking up. He really wanted this, too. He knew this was going to be the biggest risk of his life and had a bad fucking feeling about it in the pit of his stomach. Mickey glanced over to Ian who was waiting for a response, still holding Mickey's arm. He closed his eyes before speaking. 

"Ian Gallagher. I have no idea what kind of fuckin voodoo magic spell you put on me. Now get in the fucking car before I change my mind. Don't ask any questions. And do as I fucking say the whole time. Got it?"

Ian grinned and ran over to the passenger seat, adrenaline already setting him. Mickey shook his head and smiled at the excited redhead. This was probably the worst idea Mickey ever had, but there was no stopping him now. He took a deep breath before opening the car door and sitting down next to Ian. "You ready?"

Ian nodded. He was _so_ fucking ready.


	15. Bonnie and Clyde

Mickey barreled down the highway on his way to Vakiniski's house. He couldn't help but smile when he glanced over to see Ian bobbing his head to the music playing from Mickey's IPod in the car. He thought the redhead was absolutely adorable. He chuckled as Ian started to sing along, giving Mickey a mini concert in the Evo. 

"You're a goofy fucker, aren't you?" Mickey teased and Ian whipped his head to the side to face the man.

"Does this turn you on?" Ian teased as he started to thrust his hips whilst singing very very badly and loudly. 

"Jesus fuck. No, Ian. That doesn't turn me on!" Mickey laughed and continued on the highway.

" _You and me baby ain't nothing but mammal so let's do it like they do on the discovery channel. Getting horny now!_ " Ian sang along.

Mickey was laughing so hard that tears started flowing out. He didn't remember a time when someone made him feel this way. He flipped Ian off out of habit and Ian continued on with the performance. 

"You're fucking ridiculous. Do you know that?"

"Hey now! This is your iPod we're listening to here so keep that in mind, grumpster!" 

"Grumpster? Jesus Christ what did I get myself into. You're such a lame-O." Mickey teased.

"Not as lame as you!" Ian retorted, still dancing along to the song.

"Good one. Got any more harsh digs, Hannah Montana?" 

Ian flipped him off and chuckled. He also didn't remember the last time he felt this happy. Everything was just natural for them. It was fluid. It was just right. 

The song changed to something slower, more sensual. Ian sat back in his seat taking a breather from his fantastic concert he just performed. He recognized the voice in the song and raised an eyebrow. 

"Mickey the gangster Milkovich, do you have goddamn Rihanna on this iPod? Is that who I'm listening to right now?" Ian teased.

"Shut your fucking mouth and leave my girl out of this! This song is sexy, don't hate." Mickey replied, face totally serious. 

"Your _girl?_ Thought you were gay." Ian said, sounding a bit jealous.

"Shit, I'm gay as fuck. But Rihanna is fucking awesome so don't hate! ... Wait a second were you just jealous right now?" Mickey raised an eyebrow at Ian who was crossing his arms like a five year old.

"Jesus you were! C'mon Ian, it's not like I could up and leave you for some celebrity!" Mickey chuckled and Ian's demeanor changed instantly. The song was actually starting to turn him on. He could imagine them in Mickey's bedroom fucking to it. He sat back and listened to the words.

_No teasing, you waited long enough. Go deep. Imma throw it at ya, can you catch it? Don't hold back. You know I like it rough. Know I'm feeling ya, huh. Know you liking it, but. So why you standing over there with ya clothes on? Baby strip down for me, go on take em off. Don't worry baby, Imma meet you half way.  
Cause I know you wanna see me.. _

Ian slowly put his hand on Mickey's that was gripping the shifter. The touch sent an electrical shock throughout Mickey's body. He didn't pull away, and Ian slowly ran his hand up the side of Mickey's arm trailing it down the side of his body over his coat. Mickey's heart was beating out of his chest as the redhead continued to run his hand down to the man's thigh. He started massaging slowly, moving his hand to Mickey's inner thigh up next to the man's growing erection. 

"Move your hand off the shifter." Ian ordered and Mickey quickly obliged.

Ian unbuckled his own seat belt and and reached his other hand over to unbuckle Mickey's belt. He unbuttoned his jeans and pulled them down slightly. He pulled Mickey's now very hard dick out of his pants, precum forming at the tip. Ian leaned over the man and took him into his mouth.

Mickey gripped the steering wheel tightly with one hand and brought his other down onto the back of Ian's head, gripping a fistful of hair. Ian sucked him all the way down until he felt the tip hit the back if his throat, not even gagging. 

"Fuuuuck." Mickey moaned out, not noticing he was starting to swerve the car into the left lane. The car next to him honked their horn at him and be quickly brought both hands to the steering wheel snapping out of the sexual trance Ian had him in. Ian started to chuckle with Mickey's cock in his mouth which drove the man even more crazy with the vibrations of his voice. 

Mickey realized he'd hit 98MPH and started to slow down, not in the mood for a car chase tonight. Ian sat up and gave Mickey an aggravated expression. 

"The fuck Gallagher! I was just about to cum!" Mickey yelled, his cock still out and aching. 

"Go faster." Ian said bluntly. 

"What?" Mickey asked, feeling blue balls now.

"Go fucking faster, Mickey."

Mickey laid his foot down leaving the 68MPH speed to 82MPH. As soon as he did, Ian went back down to finish him off.

"Jesus going fast in my car really revs your engine, huh?" Mickey teased but also feeling utter relief when Ian took him down into the back of his throat. He couldn't hold back any longer and came down Ian's throat. Ian sat back up and grinned when he saw how good he made Mickey feel.

"Shit where did you learn how to give blow jobs like that? Fucking amazing."

"What can I say? I'm just God sent." Ian teased wiggling his eyebrows up and down. Mickey shook his head and buttoned his jeans back up while Ian held the wheel for him momentarily. This release was much better than the release he planned on earlier. He grabbed the wheel back and maintained his speed at 80MPH not wanting to draw any police attention as he was about to rob someone. Ian felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he pulled it out to view the text.

Jennifer (11:49PM): Hey. Sorry for dipping out this morning afterI heard about Jason. The funeral is the day after tomorrow. Will you come with me? I don't want to go alone. 

Ian (11:50PM): Don't even worry about it. So much happened today I have so much to tell you. And I'll absolutely go with you. I won't be home tomorrow during the day but wanna meet up before our shifts start? Mine's at 6 tomorrow

Jennifer (11:52PM): I love you Ian thanks. Look forward to hearing about your day. And tomorrow works perfectly mine's also at 6. I'll text you before I come over. Night

Ian sighed as he forgot about the horrific murder that was on the news this morning and suddenly felt dizzy. He knew deep down it was Mickey but he didn't want to probe about it until tomorrow.

"We're here. Stay here as a lookout. I'll only be five maybe ten minutes tops." Mickey ordered as he was about to leave the car, but stopped when Ian opened his door. 

"The fuck do you think you're doing, Ian?" Mickey asked, face looking overwhelmed.

"I'm coming in. If you're going to be unlawful, well, then I guess I'm joinging you. Just call me Clyde." Ian said, grinning. 

"First of all, fuck you. I'm Clyde and your ginger ass is Bonnie. And second, enough with the 'unlawful' shit. Jesus you sound like my old PO from when I was younger. Just stay in the car, Bonnie." Mickey said looking at the fire burning in Ian's eyes and having a feeling Bonnie wasn't going to give up that easily. Ian stepped out of the car and grabbed a mask that was in the duffle bag left from the drive-by job earlier. 

"I said I wanted to know you and all of you. Even if it's dangerous. I want all of you."

Mickey sighed out heavily and brought his hand to his nose. He picked up a mask and put it on. He watched Ian as he put put the mask on.

"Fucking make sure you're keeping up with me okay? Take this just in case." Mickey said, handing him a gun. Ian's eyes widened as he held the gun in his hands. His heart skipped a beat as the adrenaline started coursing through his veins.

Mickey lead the way as he broke into Vakiniski's very beautiful home. Ian followed him inside and they made it to the bedroom where Valinski kept his safe. Mickey picked up the whole safe as it was the size of a small box. As he walked back to the door, a car pulled up into the driveway. Ian's heart dropped and Mickey grabbed on his arm to pull him away to hide in the bathroom. They both got on the tub and hid behind the shower curtain, safe on Mickey's lap. 

They heard Valinski open the front door, speaking with three other men and Ian felt like he was going to die. He was terrified of what was about to happen but he didn't want Mickey to feel his fright so he pulled himself together and didn't move sitting down in the tub next to Mickey. 

Valinski walked towards his kitchen with the three men close. Mickey thought this was the perfect time to get up and make a run for it. His stuck his hand up to Ian's face and counted down on his fingers: three, two, one. Mickey stood up and ran out the door, Ian slightly delayed and running after him. Valinski and his crew ran out of the kitchen to catch Ian. One of the men quickly pulled out his gun and pointed it at Ian telling him not to move. Ian stood in place and threw his hands up. Hewas surrounded by four very angry, very buff dudes.

Mickey had already made it out to the front lawn when be noticed Ian wasn't with him. He ran back to the door quietly stood off to the side to look inside. He felt rage when he saw the man holding a gun up to Ian. Mickey whipped out his glock and entered the front door.

"Put the motherfucking gun down! Now!" Mickey yelled in anger.

"You think you're just gonna get away with stealing from me? Fuck that give me back the safe and your buddy here will live." Valinski offered. 

Ian didn't move a muscle but could feel the heat radiating off of Mickey's angered body. 

"How about you let him go and I let _you_ live?" Mickey retorted, voice muffled by the mask.

Valinski let out a chuckle and that's all it took for Mickey to finally snap. He shot the man in the leg and watched him drop to the linoleum floor, screaming in agony. His crew quickly ran to Valinski and Mickey booked it out of the house. 

"Let's go!" Mickey ordered and Ian immediately ran out the door with him. They got into Mickey's car and quickly started it. Ian looked back to see the three men getting into their car, clearly coming after them.

"Shit Mickey! They're coming!" Ian screamed as Mickey revved his engine showing the men in their Honda Civic that they didn't have a chance keeping up with his Evo. Mickey rolled down his window to stick out his middle finger as he laid into the gas peddle, turbo whoosing and boosting them forward. The Civic was still in the driveway almost leaving sight. 

"Holy fucking shit! Holy shit! We did it Mickey!" Ian yelled as he took off the mask. Mickey took his off as well and tossed it in the back. He hit the on ramp of the highway and to he delight, there wasn't a lot of people out so he could drive fast.

"I feel so fucking pumped Mickey did you see those guys' faces back there?! Holy shit that was awesome!" Ian exclaimed and Mickey laughed, thinking the redhead really looked adorable when he was excited. He looked over at Ian who's eyes were lit up and sparkling. Ian looked to the road seeing there was no one infront of them. Ian was craving more danger and needed another fix. He looked back to Mickey and leaned into him, holding his face to the latter's in for a kiss. Mickey out of habit accelerated and Ian held him in closer, the danger of making out while barreling down the highway really fucking turned him on.

The kiss was interrupted by gun shots. Mickey pulled away and looked out the rearview mirror. The Honda Civic somehow made it right on their tale. Mickey furrowed his brow and swerved to the side. The Honda followed and continued trying to shoot at the Evo. "How the fuck.." Mickey whispered as he pushed down on the gas pedal. He hit 100MPH and the Honda kept up with him. 

"These fuckers must have tricked out their car. Fuck." Mickey said to himself. Ian was hanging on for dear life as Mickey tried to keep swerving to the side to get them off his tale. It wasn't working. They shot at the Evo again and this time the bullet made contact, completely shattering the back window. "Fuck!" Mickey yelled.

Ian took a deep breath. _I wanna know you. Even if it's dangerous. I want all of you..._ He remembered telling Mickey. It was time to show he wasn't fucking around and meant it. He pulled the gun out of his jeans and rolled down the window. Mickey's eyes widened and fear flashed across his face. 

"Ian no! Stop it right the fuck noe and get down!" Mickey warned and Ian of course didn't listen. He quickly got to the window and started shooting at the tricked out Honda. The car swerved to the side to avoid Ian's bullets. Ian went through the whole clip and sat back into his seat. Mickey's face was of complete disbelief. He really never would have thought in a million years the redhead had it in him.

Mickey saw an exit approaching and he took it, Honda still following. He blew the red light, some how avoiding the cars that were approaching and the Honda followed right after. Mickey cut his wheel hard to the left to drive into a chainlink fence that was alongside a small dip to go under a bridge. He knew this place as he's raced here before. The dip lead down to a dirt road leading under a bridge. The dirt road went on for a while, space open as there were no houses or anything built there. It looked like an abandoned construction site or something, but Mickey was confident he could lose them down there.

The Honda followed down the dip and chased after the Evo. Mickey gripped the steering wheel as he cut hard to the left, starting to drift into a donut. He created a giant smokey dirt cloud by doing so. Ian grabbed Mickey's gun, ready to shoot at them again. The Honda came to a halt at the dirt cloud. When the cloud made them no longer visible, Mickey stomped on the break and stopped. He shifted into reverse to back up a bit and Ian stuck his body out the window. Mickey shifted to drive and gunned it forward. Ian shot the gun multiple times as they blasted by the Civic. Ian hit two tires causing the car to no longer have the ability to keep up.

"Fucking yes, baby!! That's what I'm talking about!" Mickey yelled I'm excitement as he made it back on to the highway, no Honda in sight. Ian let out a loud excited scream feeling on top of the world. They made it to the exit towards Mickey's house and Mickey pulled out his phone to send Jimmy a text requesting and immediate repair. 

They made it back to the house a few minutes later and Mickey drove the car into the garage. The men sat in the car for a few moments, taking everything in that happened today. 

Mickey lit up a cigarette and inhaled. He handed it to Ian as he exhaled, remembering back to the first night they met when Ian nearly choked to death trying it. Ian took the cigarette and inhaled what felt like glass going down his throat. He didn't care and kept going. Mickey chuckled and took the cigarette back.

"You really impressed me tonight, Gallagher. Most people would pussy out but you really showed up. Thanks."

Ian smiled, loving the thrill he felt by the entire day. "You called me baby back on the highway."

Mickey snorted. "Of all the things that happened today, that's all you have to say? That's what shocked you the most?"

Ian laughed. "Yup! Now let's go inside, _baby."_

Mickey tossed out his cigarette and opened the car door to step on it and put it out. He looked back at Ian and flipped him off, definitely unamused. Ian laughed harder, following him into the house hoping that Chris was still passed out. 

Ian was definitely shocked by everything today. But he was mainly shocked at how much he loved the thrill of commitimg crimes with Mickey. He craved more danger, longing for the feeling of the adrenaline rush, and it frightened him. He really wasn't sure if it was a good thing or not, but he was most certainly sure about one thing. He was now emotionally invested into Mickey Milkovich, the man who he was never supposed to be with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs mentioned in this chapter:
> 
> The Bad Touch - Bloodhound Gang
> 
> Skin - Rihanna
> 
>  
> 
> ❤❤❤


	16. What Kind of Danger?

Ian hated funerals. They were so dreary and he felt like they only focused on the death and not the celebration of one's life. He looked at the suit on his bed that Jennifer had picked out for him and sighed knowing it was going to be uncomfortable. He also felt uncomfortable going to a funeral for someone who used to beat his best friend. As he was putting on the suit, he thought back to the last 48 hours and relished in the _good_ portion of the memories. 

***********************************

Two nights ago when he helped Mickey with that job, was the most exciting night of his life. That is until returning home to find Chris had woken from his sleeping pill cocktail that Ian had secretly made for him. Thankfully, Chris just wanted to go to actual sleep with Ian. So he went upstairs with the man and went to sleep, longing to be next to Mickey in bed. Mickey did the same; going up to his room and wishing a certain redhead was laying beside him.

Chris brought Ian home the next morning due to an unexpected early morning run for Paco. When Ian opened the door to his unlocked apartment, nearly scaring the shit out of him, Jennifer was there on the couch curled up in a ball crying. He walked over to her and laid down beside her, cradling her trembling body in his arms. They stayed like that mostly all morning until she was ready to talk.

"I'm sorry for being a lazy sack of shit like this. You know how I hate to cry infront of people. And I'm, uh, sorry for breaking in to your apartment. You said you weren't going to be home early so I wanted to come here to get out of my place for a bit."

Ian smiled softly. "Don't worry about it. My apartment is probably really easy to break into anyway. But you're not a sack of shit. You're really fucking brave. Do you know that? Even for going to his funeral tomorrow that makes you so brave. You're the strongest person I know, Jennifer."

She looked up into Ian's eyes and nodded. He always made her feel better when she was down, but her favorite part about him was his sincerity behind his words. He was her gentle giant and she felt lucky to have a friend like him. She wiped the tears away and sat up, causing Ian to sit up as well.

"So. You said you had 'so much to tell me'. Spill." She said mustering up a smile.

"Oh not much really. Just that I gave Mickey road dome in his fucking awesome car and he took me for a ride and we ran from the cops. Oh, and we are kinda having a secret affair until I can sort shit out with Chris who I drugged last night so I was able to go out with Mickey." He said all in one breath as nonchalantly as possible. Jennifer's eyes widened, taking in everything that Ian just said.

"Woah, wait, what?! Ian Gallagher, you ran from the cops and drugged your boyfriend to be with your now secret lover? Jesus, you delinquent. Maybe Mickey is a bad influence..." She started, giving her truthful opinion behind her words. 

"No Jennifer, he's _amazing._ He makes me feel so alive and shows me that there is so much more to life than sitting at your job all day and paying bills only to return home from your shitty day at work to continue living a vanilla life style."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "A 'vanilla life style'? As opposed to what, running from the cops and drugging people to have an affair with your boyfriend's roommate and friend? What's gotten into you, Ian? You're smarter than this.."

Ian sensed her judgment. His brow furrowed and he became defensive. "Don't be judging me when you dated someone for two years who beat you and tried to kill you with his bare fucking hands. Mickey would never hurt me. So what if he's a little rough around the edges? He's still a better man than Jason ever was to you!" 

The second the words left his mouth, he felt instant regret. Jennifer dropped her jaw, not knowing what to say next. She couldn't believe Ian right now. She didn't say a word and stood up off the couch. She looked down at him and gave a look of disappointment and anger, then stormed out towards the door.

"Wait! Jennifer! I'm a dick I'm sorry! I didn't-"

She slammed the door behind her before he could finish. He ran to the door and opened it trying to catch her. 

"Please wait! I'm so sorry! Just-"

She stopped dead in her tracks and whipped her body around to face Ian. 

"You realize how fucked up that was back there, right? Jason was fucking brutally murdered and you have the fucking audacity to try and lecture _me?_ You're the motherfucker who can't keep it in your goddamn pants and is too scared to break shit off with your boyfriend. Maybe _you're_ the bad influence. Christ, what's gotten into you? I mean I know you're usually a dumbass and I'm always here for you and I get it. But you're not an asshole. Or at least usually not. But right now, you're just a fucking asshole. So stop following me and don't contact me." She said and whipped back around to head to the door leading out of the apartment building. 

She was out of sight and Ian remained motionless. He felt tears swelling in his eyes and wished be could take back the whole thing. Jennifer was his rock and he couldn't bare the thought of losing her over some dumb shit he didnt mean to say. He sighed and headed back to his apartment. His goth neighbor was waiting outside her door next to his and he braced himself for whatever shit was about to come out of her mouth.

"Damn. That was bleak." She said and Ian huffed and rolled his eyes. He grabbed the door knob and she spoke again, "You know you're kind of an asshole for that right? But just give her valley girl ass some time. She needs to lick her wounds and then she'll be back here in no time, screaming her words like a loud motherfucker again."

Ian couldn't help but smile. Jennifer was a loud motherfucker and didn't really know how to use volume control with her words hence the neighbor always banging on the walls when Jennifer was there. He chuckled lightly and nodded to his neighbor knowingly. She smiled back through black lipsticked lips. She went back inside her apartment and slammed the door. Ian knew his shift tonight was going to suck with Jennifer hating him at the moment, but he knew there wasn't a way around it. He went back inside and sat on the couch, curling up in a ball in the same spot she was previously in. He shut his eyes and let sleep take him before he had to get ready for his shift that night.

*************************************

Ian looked at himself in the mirror, hating the person looking back at him. He hasn't talked to Jennifer since she stormed out yesterday morning as she didn't say a word to him at the club last night. But he knew he had to go to the funeral for her. He gave himself one last look and tightened his tie. His phone vibrated and he picked it up immediately hoping it was Jennifer. 

Mickey (7:06AM): Chris wants to go to the club tonight to see you. He'll be texting you soon.

Ian (7:07AM): Why are you texting me then?

Mickey (7:08AM): Cause I wanna see you too.

Ian (7:09AM): Fucking right you do. I'll text you after the funeral

Mickey (7:09AM): Whose funeral?

Ian (7:10AM): Jason's. 

Ian put his phone in his pocket trying to avoid being late and went downstairs to wait for the cab he called to pick him up.

*****************************************

"Dude wake up!" Mickey shook Chris awake. Being the psychopath Chris is, he whipped out his gun from under his pillow and pointed it at Mickey being startled awake.

"Jesus? Chris! Put down the fucking gun!"

Chris realized it was only Mickey and lowered the gun.

"You don't just barge in and wake a motherfucker up like that and not expect me to pull a gun on you!" Chris retorted, rubbing his eyes as he started to wake up.

"Ian's in danger. He's going to the kid we snuffed out's funeral today."

"So?" Chris questioned. 

"So, Jose and the Ryders are gonna be there and if they fucking recognize him seeing how you've been spending a lot of time with him lately, they could fucking kill him out of spite!"

"Shit.. alright let me get changed and we'll head over. How'd you know he was going to the funeral?" Chris questioned skeptically as he gathered up a suit from his closet, getting ready to head to the bathroom to take a quick shower. 

Mickey lied. "Jennifer texted me this morning asking if you were going with him or not."

"Why didn't she just text me?"

"Lost your number." He lied again. Chris shrugged and headed into the shower. Mickey had already showered when he woke up at the ass crack of dawn this morning per usual. He went into his room and also found a black suit that Paco made him wear when going to 'formal' meetings. He sat on his bed waiting for Chris to get out of the shower, biting on his thumb nervously. He pulled out his phone and sent Ian another text hoping he'd open it in time.

Mickey (7:15AM): Ian do NOT talk to Jason's brother. Stay discrete as much as possible. Please. I'll be there soon.

Ian (7:16AM): Huh? Why?

Mickey (7:16AM): Because I fucking said so and because you might be in danger. Just please listen.

Ian (7:17AM): What kind of danger Mick..

Mickey (7:17AM): The bad kind? Jesus! Enough with the stupid fucking questions. 

Mickey heard Chris get out of the shower. He grabbed a gun and put it in his chest holster, hoping he wasn't going to need to use it.


	17. Lifelong Commitments

Something about people crying in public made Mickey very uncomfortable. He stood in the back of the crowd with sunglasses on to hopefully make his presence less obvious Chris stood next to him as well. They watched as Jason's mom came forward to the casket and dropping to her knees, sobbing. Although his body was found in pieces, they still wanted him in a casket and buried. It was actually very sad to see and it made Mickey want to leave immediately, feeling like he was invading her privacy. 

Mickey caught a glimpse of the redhead who was off to the side, by himself. Jennifer was over by Jose, holding his hand and grieving together. The priest started the prayer and everyone either moved their gaze to the ground or close their eyes, listening to the prayer. Mickey felt a coldness on his kneck and he looked up to the pale gray sky that was staring to spit snow flakes out. _Shit. Tomorrow is already Christmas Eve.._ He thought to himself. 

The service ended and Mickey and Chris headed back to their car, steaking out and watching Ian from a far.

"Almost makes you feel sorry for the fucker." Chris said, referring to Jason's death while Mickey watched the redhead intently through his sunglasses. He saw Ian walk over to Jennifer to give her a hug. She awkwardly hugged him back and Mickey wondered if something had happened between them. Other than the awkward hug, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary. 

As people started to leave, Chris and Mickey decided that everything seemed to be fine and that maybe Jose didn't actually know who Ian was. They walked over to the car making one last glance at Ian to make sure he was safe. Mickey got in and started the car, the roaring exhaust definitely turning heads to their direction. He ducked his head down a bit as Chris rolled down the window to light up a cigarette.

Mickey looked out his tinted window to see Jose approaching. "Fuck." Mickey muttered quietly and Chris turned his head to Mickey's gaze at the man approaching them.

Jose stopped infront of Mickey's window that was rolled up, and knocked on the glass. Mickey's eyes widened and he turned his head over to Chris looking frightened. "The fuck do I do?! What do I say?" Mickey whispered and Chris just stared at Jose through the tinted window, asking himself the same questions. Mickey brought his right hand onto the opening of his jacket, ready to pull out the gun while hitting the button to unroll his window. 

"Milkovich. Delvecho. What brings you here to my brother's funeral." Jose asked sharply. 

Mickey froze, making Chris answer the question. 

"Oh, hey Jose. We're very sorry for your loss. We were just paying our respects." Chris said trying to sound sympathetic. Jose saw right through the bullshit and narrowed his eyes.

"Paying your respects, huh? Pretty crazy considering." He answered. 

"Considering what?" Chris played dumb.

Jose stared at them with anger behind his eyes. He put fear into both the men by just looking at them. He backed away from the window, continuing to hold their gaze. He brought his index finger up to his temple and tapped, indicating he knows. Mickey sighed in relief as Jose turned around and walked away. As he was about to pull away, a familiar voice greeted them from the other side of Chris' window. 

"Mickey?" 

"Hey baby!" Chris greeted and Mickey gripped the steering wheel tightly, facing straight ahead.

"Do you need a ride home?" Chris asked, eyes starting to pick up on Ian's green ones staring at the man next to him. 

"Yeah that'd actually be good. Jennifer is staying later with Jose and his family so I didn't want to bother her. We're also not in the best place right now either so this might be best."

"Well hop in! You can come back to the place. I could use some cuddle time with you." Chris said, Ian looking very uninterested but got in the back seat and nodded. Mickey sighed I'm aggravation and Chris turned his body to look at him.

"You got something to fucking say, Mickey?" Chris gritted out of his teeth. 

"Jesus relax, Bruce Banner! You're about one glare away from busting out into the Hulk right now for no apparent reason! I'm just tired okay?" Mickey retorted. 

Ian chuckled in the backseat. He wondered how Mickey was always able to come up with witty responses in the moment. It was one of the many things he loved about Mickey. 

"Yeah, whatever." Chris said and looked back at Ian and continued, "He thinks he's soo fucking funny." 

"I'm highlarious." Mickey said with a grin. 

"Speaking of high, I'm lighting up this joint. Anyone wanna hit?" Chris asked.

"Its like nine in the morning?" Ian questioned. 

"Ian, baby. You're such a good little boy. Need to change that." Chris flirted and Mickey gagged out loud dramatically.

"Don't be hatin'." Chris said, lighting the joint and inhaling. He passed it to Mickey and he took a hit, looking in the rearview mirror at Ian who happened to already be looking at him. He wanted to be back there with him, but he continued to speed ahead to just get the fuck home already. 

When they arrived, the white Subaru WRX with the 'GFY96' vanity plate was parked in Mickey's spot.

"For fucks sake Mandy!" Mickey yelled out, hating when people parked in his spot. He parked horizontally to block the entire bottom of the driveway and chuckled. 

"You're such a child." Ian chuckled out and Mickey stuck up his middle finger. They got out of the car and headed to the front door. Tony let them in, the house smelling heavenly. 

"Did you fuck heads finally learn how to cook?" Mickey asked, taking off his jacket and srill felt constricted by his vest and dress shirt. Ian couldn't help but stare at how good the man looked dressed up like that. His mouth watered at the sight. Chris ruined his fantasies forming in his mind by just speaking. 

"Yeah fucking right! Could you guys imagine Iggy trying to cook?" Chris teased, earning a middle finger from Iggy who was in the living room with Joey playing Mario Kart per usual. 

"You fuckers really don't think I'm capable of cooking, do you?" Mandy said coming out of the kitchen with an apron on.

"Prepping Christmas dinner like every year. Duh. And by the way, you all always love my cooking so don't even try to start pretending that you don't." She looked over at Ian and smiled. "Still hanging around, I see."

Ian smiled and nodded. She raised an eyebrow knowingly from the time she had walked in on him and her brother. She chuckled and turned back to the kitchen. 

"What do you usually do for Christmas?" Chris asked Ian, wrapping his arms around Ian's waist. Ian stiffened at the touch. It felt cold and unfulfilling unlike when Mickey touched him. 

"Oh well now that my younger siblings are older, not a whole lot. Our thing is usually Christmas Eve. We stay up and watch Christmas movies and bake cookies.." He trailed off, pain starting to fill his heart as he couldn't remember the last time they actually did that. It had been years. But he didn't want to sound pathetic so he turned the attention off of him. 

"What do you guys do?" Ian asked. 

Mickey turned around and chuckled wondering what kind of bullshit Chris was about to spew out. 

"Well we usually have to work. Our boss says sales is a never ending job. But Mandy makes appetizers on Christmas Eve and we also try to fit in a Christmas movie. Then on Christmas day we eat together the awesome dinner she makes and exchange gifts and shit." Chris answered. 

Mickey and Mandy bursted out into laughter knowing that 90% of his story was a crock of shit. 

"Oh! Don't forget the knitting! We knit eachother Christmas sweaters with hearts and shit too as we sit by the fire in the living room holding hands and singing fucking Christmas songs." Mickey let out and Mandy started snorting with laughter. 

"So I take it none of that was remotely true." Ian said, giving into a grin.

"No these bastards over here just have no souls and no Christmas spirit." Chris retorted, releasing Ian and heading toward the stairs.

"I'm going up to take a nap. Wanna join, babe?" Chris asked.

"Nah. I'll see you when you wake up." Ian answered. Chris nodded and blew a kiss to Ian before heading up the stairs. Ian turned around to hear chuckling. 

"Wanna join, babe?" Mandy mocked in a girly voice laughing uncontrollably. 

"C'mon upstairs, baby. Let's take a nap." Mickey joined in on the mockery. 

"Yeah, Yeah I get it." Ian answered also chuckling at how ridiculous Chris sounded. 

Mandy went back to cutting vegetables with the very large kitchen knife and Mickey walked by to steal a sliced piece of carrot. Mandy stabbed her knife into the cutting board, startling Ian. She walked over to the island in the middle of the kitchen and leaned forward on it, raising her arm slightly and signaling them with her index finger to 'come here'.

Ian and Mickey also leaned into the island and either side, the three of them forming a triangle. She peeped her head over to make sure her brothers were in the living room occupied by the video game. Once she saw that they were, she leaned back in and whispered, "Okay fucking spill. The sexual tension in this room is insane right now and I know it's definitely _not_ involving me. And let's not forget I walked in on you two before."

Ian flushed bright red and Mickey looked away. "I dunno what you're talking about." Mickey whispered, lying.

"Oh please. Why don't you look me in the eyes, Mick, and tell me _nothing_ is going on here between you too." She pushed. 

Mickey looked her in the eye. He didn't say anything. Ian looked at Mickey and Mandy widened her eyes, moving her gaze from her brother over to Ian. Her jaw dropped and she brought her hand to her mouth. 

"I fucking knew it!" She loudly whispered and Mickey shushed her.

"This never ever leaves your mouth. You understand me?" Mickey threatened and she rolled her eyes.

"You think I'm stupid? I don't want either of you knuckle heads getting killed. Just.. okay I'm curious. Mick, I know you've never had a boyfriend or anything and Ian's like drop dead gorgeous so I gotta ask..."

"If you fuckin ask who pitches and who catches I'll break your fuckin arm right now." Mickey interrupted. 

"But I'm so curious!" She whined. Mickey rolled his eyes. 

"We uh.. haven't done it yet." Ian said, the siblings looking up at him in shock. 

"No wonder the tension was so thick. Jesus you both need to get laid." Mandy said and chuckled. 

Mickey's phone went off and be sighed. It was Paco asking for a quick drug run. He looked up at Ian, "Wanna go for a drive?" 

Ian smiled widely. He nodded and started to move toward Mickey. 

"Wait, he knows?" Mandy asked with wide eyes, laughter vanishing. 

"He knows." Mickey confirmed. "But no one other than the two of us know that he knows."

"Mickey.. you realize how dangerous this is?" Mandy started to lecture, truly frightened for Ian.

"Yes mom. I'm aware. I've already told him that it's dangerous and we're dangerous and he's in danger yatta yatta and the fucker doesn't care to listen." Mickey said looking over at Ian. Mandy turned her body to Ian's and slowly moved forward.

"You're aware that if anyone ever catches you with my brother, you either join is for life or you die. There are no other options. No other ways out. You still wanna hang out with him? With us?" She questioned, searching his eyes for fear. For some reason when it came to Mickey, he _was_ fearless.

"I know exactly what I'm getting myself into here. If shit goes south, I'll man the fuck up and join." Ian said. Mandy laughed darkly.

"It's not that simple, ginger bread. First of all, our boss would need to evaluate you and make sure that he likes you. Then there's an initiation as in you need to prove to us that you're one of us. Could be with a robbery, drug run, or a murder. We never know. And we never know what kind of jobs our boss has for us but you've always gotta be ready. He waits for no one and if you try to make him wait, you die. The only way out of this shitty gang is death. This is a life long commitment and none of us want to do it anymore. But we can never leave. Now, I want you to think long and hard about this because you really do seem like a nice kid. I just wish there was someone who could have voted 'no' for me to live this life years back."

Ian nodded, taking everything in that Mandy said. He knew that being with Mickey was going to be its own lifelong commitment. It hadn't even been long since they met and Ian was already starting to fall for the gangster. He never wanted to experience life with anyone else. Mickey was his once in a lifetime shooting star. He looked over at Mickey who was stating at him back, gnawing on the inside of his cheek out of a nervous habit. Ian exhaled and smiled. 

"I know. And I don't care. I'll ride with him and I'll die with him." Ian said bluntly. 

Mandy smiled softly and nodded, realizing she'd never change his mind. She looked over at her brother and she could see the fire burning in his eyes that was of desire for Ian. She nodded. "Alright, Mick. Paco's waiting."

He nodded and headed to the door, Ian following. Before he opened the door, he looked back at Mandy. "Ay! You parked in my spot, bitch!"

"Love you too Mick!" She yelled out, now facing the vegetables that she was cutting up and resumed. Ian chuckled at them and they headed out the door to the Evo. They got in and felt the adrenaline rush of doing something they knew they shouldn't be doing. Mickey threw on bis sunglasses and started the car. He smiled and asked, "You ready?"

Ian nodded and put his hand on Mickey's as he gripped the shifter and began revving the engine. Ian felt the excitement all over his body and Mickey took off, turbo whoosing. 

Chris watched them zoom away, looking out his window, knowing something was definitely up between the two.


	18. Mama I'm in Love With a Criminal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song:
> 
> Criminal by Britney Spears

The snow flakes began to sprinkle as the boys whipped down the freeway. Mickey's car was ripping and roaring, passing the cars that weren't going at least 70MPH. He decided to keep it under 80 as the snow was starting to pick up and he really wanted to try and avoid the company of Chicago's finest. Ian's hand was still gripping Mickey's as the latter's hand was on the shifter. Mickey couldn't help but smile. He loved the feeling of the redhead touching him. Even if Ian wasn't _completely_ his. This would have to do for now. 

As Mickey was looking straight ahead through his Aviators, Ian stole a quick glance of the man. Ian felt the butterflies in his stomach flutter at the sight of the man next to him. Mickey was still wearing his suit from the funeral, as was Ian, but Mickey looked absolutely delicious he thought. He usually dressed pretty well on a normal basis, but something about that suit made Ian crazy inside. He quickly whipped his head to the side to look out the window when Mickey caught him staring. Mickey grinned and continued to drive.

"So.." Ian said to break the silence, hoping Mickey would start a conversation. 

"So." Mickey repeated.

"What's the job we're on our way to?"

"Drug deal. Possible beat down. Won't know till we get there." Mickey said matter-of-factly. Ian nodded. He wanted to say so much to Mickey but just didn't know how. He was falling for the man in the short amount of time they've known eachother and he didn't even feel stupid about it. He knew Jennifer would have probably told him he was being stupid but he quickly shut her voice out.

"Hey Mickey?" Ian said, still looking out his window. He did think about what Mandy said earlier, about how hanging out the man could end up being a lifelong commitment. He wanted it. Wanted Mickey. Criminal or not, he knew that this was meant to be. It gave him the feeling of completion. He didn't care that any of it was dangerous because it was what he needed to feel again. He needed to feel alive and not end back up in that dark place he was in only a few weeks ago.

"Yeah?" Mickey asked, shooting glances at Ian.

"I... well. I wanna join. What do I need to do to-"

"No fucking way. End of discussion." Mickey interrupted, gripping his steering wheel.

"But Mandy even said back there that it's bound to happen anyways if I hang out with you guys." Ian started.

"Mandy's a fuckin half-wit. We're done talking about this now."

"Mickey, I want to be with you. I don't even care bow crazy this sounds I just wanna be with you. I don't want Chris and I don't want to hide anymore."

"Jesus, fuck, first of all you know we can't actually be together right? We agreed on keeping this shit a secret but we cannot be together _because_ of Chris. Even if you dumped him, he would fucking kill you and me if he found out I was the reason for you ending things with him. He's insane, Ian. You haven't even seen it yet. For starters, he killed your friend's boyfriend without any hesitation. Shot him in the fuckin head because he, and I quote, 'Wanted to hang out with you'. He's done a lot of crazy shit that wouldn't make me doubt he'd kill us."

"He killed Jason?" Ian asked, eyes widened by the reveal of Jason's murderer. He knew it might have been Mickey or something but everything started to get more.. _real._

"Yes, Ian. He killed him. He's killed women and children, too. That's my one rule. No matter what, I will never fucking kill women or children. I don't care who's begging me to do so. But Chris.. He doesn't have a heart. He's a sociopath and will kill without any thoughts. Even killing men makes me sick to my stomach, but that's part of the job. That's why I just don't want you joining our gang. It's not like in the movies or whatever. It's some really scary shit, Ian. We're fucking monsters."

"I don't care. If you're in it, I want to be in it." 

"Fucking Christ. I feel like I'm trying to argue with a five year old or something. You don't listen, do you?" Mickey sighed, rubbing a free hand against his temple in annoyance. Ian turned his body to face Mickey, eyes burning through him.

"I heard everything you said. But are you hearing what I'm saying?"

"Yeah I hear you're deranged ass. You think we can just frolic off into the sunset and just pretend our lives aren't on the line ever goddamn day. Just please, can't seeing eachother secretly be enough for now? We'll figure shit out, Ian, I swear. Just wait until the holidays are over. Okay? Can you atleast do that? Meet me halfway here." Mickey asked, eyes looking defeated. 

Ian sighed loudly and crossed his arms. "Fine. But after the holidays, I'm leaving Chris and we're going to be together. Okay?"

"Fucking shit! No, not okay?! I didn't say that, I said we'd figure shit out. We need to plan, not just make hasty and super messy decisions like that."

Ian rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, turning his head back over to look out the window. Mickey chuckled at the sight of the redhead pitching a small temper tantrum.

"You're cute when you're mad, Gallagher." Mickey teased. Ian raised his middle finger up at the man and went back to crossing his arms. Mickey snickered and turned on his iPod so it was less awkwardly silent for the rest of the drive. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, inhaling the chemicals into his lungs. 

"Smokings bad for you." Ian muttered out, still in his five year old mindset of brewing a tantrum. 

"Yeah, so are you. Can't quit either for some reason, though." Mickey said bluntly, exhaling the smoke through his nose. 

Ian's heart fluttered, momentarily breaking the tantrum. This would have to be enough for now.

As they approached their destination to the hideout, Mickey told Ian to stay in the car so he could get the drugs from Paco in order to deliver them on the run. Ian nodded and stayed in the car. He watched Mickey wall away, admiring how perfect the man's ass looked in the dress pants. Mickey tossed his cigarette to the ground and felt Ian's eyes on him. He turned his head to look back at Ian and raised a knowing eye brow. Ian blushed and looked down, pulling out his phone to see he had two missed calls and a text message from Jennifer from a little while ago. 

Jennifer (10:15AM): Truce? I miss my best friend. I'm sorry for overreacting. I was a bitch and I admit it

Ian (11:03AM): Truce. I missed you too. And yes, you were being a bitch but I totally get it. Guess you can't help who you love.

Jennifer (11:04AM): That's for damn sure. See you tonight for our shifts?

Ian (11:05AM): How'd you know I was working tonight? Just asking since we really haven't talked the last few days.

Jennifer (11:07AM): Jose told me a few minutes ago. He asked how I knew you so I told him how we met and what not. Didn't realize you guys were friends!

Before Ian could reply saying he definitely had never even spoken to Jose let alone befriended him, Mickey came back into the car nearly giving him a heart attack.

"Jesus Mick! You're like a fucking fancy ass ninja or something in that suit!"

Mickey chuckled and turned to look over at Ian whose smile completely diminished and he looked a bit nervous. Mickey's brow furrowed.

"You Okay, Gallagher?" Mickey asked.

"Uh, yeah, Mick. Yeah I'm fine. Just made up with Jennifer and she said Jason's brother, Jose, knew when my shift was tonight. Said he knew me, but I've never even talked to him before. Just weird I guess."

Mickey froze in fear, still staring at Ian. Ian looked at him with a mixture of concern and confusion as he didn't move or speak for the next minute or so. 

"Mick? Hey what's wrong? You're starting to scare me."

Mickey quickly snapped out of it and moved the large baggie of coke under his seat in a compartment he built. He sat down in his seat and started the car, making sure to face forward so that Ian couldn't read the fear on his face. 

"Yeah everything's fine. I just was trying to remember the directions to the shit bag's place that we gotta deliver to." He lied. Ian bought it and nodded. Mickey felt relief as he pulled out of the driveway and headed back on to the highway. The buyer only lived an exit up from where they We're, so Mickey followed the exit and made it to their destination. It was a shitty, rundown apartment building.

Mickey sighed and looked around to see if anyone was outside or looking at his car. The last thing he wanted was someone from the projects trying to steal his car. He put the car in 'park' and reached under the seat to grab the baggie of drugs. He took a gun out of the glove box and handed it to Ian. 

"I've got one already under my jacket. Take this just in case. Just follow my lead."

Ian felt a tingle of electricity as he took the gun. The adrenaline started to kick in knowing what they were doing was dangerous. The feeling was something he craved. He was about to get his fix so he took the gun and put it in the inside of his coat in a pocket. Before he turned his body and reached to open the door, Mickey tugged on his arm. Ian furrowed his brow and turned to Mickey who was staring into his eyes. He leaned over and reached to cup Ian's cheek with his hand. Mickey pressed his lips to Ian's causing and electrical shock to enter both of their bodies. Ian felt his heart fluttering as the man continued to kiss him, the 'Fuck' hand holding his cheek.

Mickey pulled away before got too carried away. "You ready, Bonnie?" He asked causing Ian to roll his eyes and nod. Ian followed Mickey out of the car and to the building. Mickey buzzed the buzzer and a deep voice answered.

"Who the fuck are you?" The voice asked. Mickey rolled his eyes and ran his 'U-Up' hand through his hair in annoyance. 

"Fuck you is who I am." Mickey answered back.

"Ah. Milkovich. I'll buzz you up." The deep voice through the box replied. The buzzing sound went off and the door unlocked. Mickey held the door open for Ian who was chuckling that the person over the intercom knew who Mickey was just by what he said. 

"Very gentlemanly of you, kind sir." Ian teased as he walked inside the building. 

"Say that again and I'll punch you in the fuckin face." Mickey said bluntly. Ian just laughed and let Mickey lead the way.

The elevator was down so they had to take the stairs to the third floor. They found apartment number 14G and knocked on the door. The man who answered instantly made Ian feel miniature. He was about six foot two, and very buff. He definitely looked like he could snap Ian like a twig with his bare hands. Ian gulped.

"Yo Mickey! It's been a hot minute!" The man with the deep voice said. He reminded Ian of a ghetto John Coffey from the Green Mile, one of Ian's favorite movies. 

Mickey nodded and pushed himself through the door. The man stood infront of the door giving Ian a scrutinizing look like he did not belong.

"Ay Mickey, who's Pumpkin Patch over here?" 

"He's just a friend, Wes. Shit, Pumpkin Patch is a good one! Wish I thought of it first." Mickey teased and Ian rolled his eyes. Wes snickered and opened the door to allow a now very annoyed pumpkin to step into his apartment. 

"So this is some real good premium shit. Paco's asking for seven hundred no more no less." Mickey stated holding out the baggie. 

"When's Paco gonna cut me a deal?" Wes asked, half joking. 

"Around the same time that he cuts me one. Now pay up fucker."

Wes rolled his eyes and pulled out the wad of cash in his pocket. Mickey counted the one hundred dollar bills over to make sure it was all there. He flashed a smile to Wes once he saw it was there and put it in his pocket. 

"Pleasure doing business with you, compadre!" Mickey snickered out as he opened the door. He was stopped in his tracks to see some familiar faces at the door. Faces that he didnt want to see.

"How's it going Milkovich?" Jose asked, two others with him. 

"Fuck. Jose, what are you doing on this shitty end of town?" Mickey asked nervously. Ian could tell Mickey was nervous just by looking at the expression on his face.

"All parts are shitty here, Mickey. We're here to send a message to Wes, actually. If you don't mind moving over, we'll just carry on with our business as you do with yours." Jose Said, peeping inside to see a frightened Wes and a familiar redhead. Jose moved his gaze back to Mickey who had a stern and protective look to him now.

"Isn't that Chris' bitch over there?" He asked, referring to Ian. Mickey slowly started to ball his fist.

Jose moved his gaze from Ian back to Mickey and raised and eye brow. "Hmm. Mickey Milkovich. I always knew that you're a white piece of Southside trash. But I never would have guessed you were a _gay,_ white piece of Southside trash." Jose snickered. 

"I'm not fucking gay so you shut your goddamn mouth with that shit." Mickey gritted out. Jose's mouth formed a wicked smile and he shoved through Mickey to get closer to Ian; his two accessories following him.

"Does Chris know that you're out with his best friend?" Jose asked Ian. 

"Um.. yes.. I mean well no.. but yeah.."

"Just as I suspected." Jose interrupted. "Why don't you two faggots fuck off before I tell Chris myself. He'd kill you both. We all know he would; that gringo is locco."

 

Mickey sniffed, fuming with rage and Ian could see it instantly wishing he could just reach out to Mickey to calm him down.

"The fuck did you just call us, Tacohead?" Mickey asked, starting to see red.

"Hey! Mickey! Relax!" Ian yelled out as Jose chuckled. 

"Listen to your bitch, puta." Jose said. The two men in his crew started laughing and quitely speaking in Spanish. Out of anger, and very stupidly, Mickey pulled out his gun. Jose turned from Ian and walked closer to Mickey. He slowly reached for the barrel of the gun and put it up to his own head. Mickey's eyes widened watching how insane this man was acting right now. 

"Go ahead, dirty white boy. Shoot me. See how fast my crew over there shoots you and your whore. Make a move. Come on, pussy! Do it!" Jose taunted. Mickey was gripping the gun, sweat beading down his face. He wanted nothing more then to pull that trigger. "DO IT!" Jose screamed. Mickey took a deep breath and the intensity was interrupted by the cocking sound of two other guns. Mickey's eyes bounced from Ian to Wes who were both aiming at Jose's crew.

"We're leaving now. Mickey let's go." Ian ordered. Mickey's heart was racing and seeing Ian take control of the situation like that made him want the man even more. Mickey stared at Jose one last time, narrowing his eyes. He lowered the gun and turned around to walk out of the door following Ian out.

"That was a bad idea, Milkovich! A _very_ bad idea!" Jose called out as they ran down the hall and down the stairs. They made it out to the car and exhaled in relief. The snow was really coming down, vision of the road starting to diminish. Thankfully, Mickey's car was all wheel drive.

"This... This is _exactly_ what I didn't want to happen that is now happening. Now what are we-"

"I love you." Ian interjected, still panting and not moving his gaze from Mickey's. Mickey's eyes widened, not comprehending what the redhead just told him.

"What did you just.."

"I love you, Mickey. You don't need to say it back right now. It's completely crazy and reckless of me, but it's the truth. I just want you to know, okay?"

Mickey stayed silent, not sure of what to say. He knew that he felt the same way for Ian, but he couldn't just say those three words back to him. His body wouldn't allow it. He froze in fear of his own feelings and the fear of how fucked he actually was, knowing that this whole situation was so wrong. He remained silent and started the car. He turned out of the lot to return back home before the storm got any worse. Ian gazed out the window at the twinkling snowflakes coming down, knowing he was dangerously playing with fire. He didn't care if he got burned because he was now in too deep. He was hopelessly in love with a criminal.


	19. You're Mine

The snow was coming down harder making the visibility of the highway almost impossible to see even though it was midday. They hadn't said a word to one another since Ian confessed his feelings. Ian was still staring out the window, silently praying that they weren't going to die in this storm. Both of their phones went off at the same time and Ian checked his phone while Mickey was focusing on the road.

It was a winter weather advisory telling people to stay off the roads as the storm made them unsafe. He got another text from his boss telling him not to come in tonight due to the weather. Ian was almost disappointed as he just wanted to run away from life momentarily. He sighed and put down his phone. 

"Who was it?" Mickey asked.

"You're not my boyfriend, I don't need to tell you." Ian retorted. 

"Oh, so it's gonna be like that then? We're going to act five years old?"

"Yep. It's gonna be like that." Ian confirmed. Mickey shook his head in annoyance and focused back on the road. His car started to lose control and slid into another lane. Mickey tried to regain control and once he had it, He pulled right over onto the side of the road along with the other few remaining cars who had to pull over because of the storm.

"Fuck!" Mickey yelled, hitting the steering wheel. Ian crossed his arms, beginning to shiver a bit from the cold.

"Sucks to be stuck with me in the car, right?"

"Oh for fucks sake, Ian! Would you just cut the whole poor me syndrome already? You're acting like a crybaby and I'm not giving in to it."

"Poor me syndrome? I just told you I love you and you sit there quielty like a... like a .. a fucking douche lord and expect me to just be all fine and dandy with that?"

Mickey stared at Ian's bright red face, trying to hold back laughter. 

"Douche lord? Jesus, I really need to borrow that insult book that you're getting all these harsh digs from." Mickey said teasingly unable to hold in the laughter. 

"Fuck you, Mickey! Stop trying to make a joke out of my feelings. I'm just going to walk home."

"Come on, Sensitive Sally! Relax. You're not going anywhere." Mickey said looking into Ian's eyes knowing that he should have just told him how he felt.

"Oh yes I am! You can't stop me! You don't fucking own me."

Ian went to reach for the door and Mickey quickly leaned over Ian's seat to grab his hand away. His body touching Ian's sent that desirable volt of electricity inside of him. Ian pushed him off and opened the door. Mickey sighed and moved back to his seat to open his own door to catch up with the redhead storming away.

"Christ, you're so dramatic!" Mickey called after the man. "Ian, it's like zero degrees out here and heavily snowing. Would you just come back into the car with me?"

Ian stopped and turned around to look at Mickey angrily. He pushed Mickey back with force causing him to sleep on some ice beneath the accumulated snow. Mickey grunted and got up to lunge towards Ian to tackle him to the ground. He was on top of Ian, sending Ian's mind flashbacks of the first night they met by the bridge. Ian shook the memory away and tried to push Mickey off of him as a hot tear rolled down his cheek. Mickey held down his arms with his own while the redhead was convulsing below him trying to get free.

"Ian, relax. Let's go back to the car. I'm sorry that I'm a dickhead, okay? My mind is just.. it's fucking broken. I'm not wired to just blurt out how I feel. Feelings scare me. The feelings I have when I'm with you truly scare me. I just want you for myself and knowing I can't have you like that kills me. I'm just really sorry for everything."

Ian looked up at Mickey with distraught in his eyes. He heard enough to know that Mickey felt the same way about him. He went limp below the man, indicating a surrender. Mickey held him down for a few more moments, continuing to stare into his green eyes. He inhaled, taking all of his securities and stresses and bullshit inside of him. He exhaled, finally letting himself go. 

He crashed his lips down to Ian's. Ian kissed back with force, rolling Mickey on to his back so he could be on top and be more dominant. Mickey liked being dominated by Ian. 

He sat up quickly and ripped Mickey's vest open, popping most of the buttons off leaving just his dress shirt left. He moved back down on to the man to be as close to him as he possibly could and resumed kissing him.

The kiss deepened, tongues swirling around one another. Neither of them stopping even with the snow piling onto them. Ian gripped Mickey's hair with one hand as he started to tug and kissed down his jaw line. Mickey lightly moaned, the intensity of the kissing growing. Ian kissed down on to his neck leaving behind more purple bruises. Mickey couldn't take it anymore and rolled Ian on to his back. 

Mickey began hungrily kissing Ian's lips down to his neck to leave behind matching marks as if it was their way of marking eachother to keep others away from what's theirs. Ian still gripping Mickey's hair, tugged harder making the latter moan more. He kissed back up Ian's neck to his perfect jaw line. He made his way to Ian's ear and began light nibbling at his ear. 

"I _do_ own you, Ian Gallagher. Not Chris. Not anyone else.You're mine." He whispered in Ian's ear driving him crazy. Mickey being possessive really turned him on. Mickey reach a hand down to Ian's very hardened cock. "Mm. This cock is mine, too. Fucking love it."

Ian moaned and pulled Mickey's face back to his to continue the kiss. Ian's phone rang, startling them, and Ian pulled away panting heavily from the sexual trance he was just in. His cheeks were bright pink from the cold wind smacking into his face. He reached into his pocket as Mickey sat on top straddling him. "Fuck." Ian panted and tried to compose himself before answering.

"H-hey Chris. What's up?" Ian asked into the phone, heart racing with fear. Mickey smirked and leaned back on to Ian, lightly kissing his neck. _Motherfucker._ Ian thought to himself. 

"Where are you? It's almost 2 o'clock in the afternoon and Mandy said you should be back soon!" Chris yelled into the phone. 

"Uhhhh yeah. Yes I'm sorry, shit it's really windy and snowy outside I've gotta go but I'll uhhhh.. Yes I'll text you." Ian said, distracted by Mickey tugging at his dick over his pants and kissing his neck. Ian pushed him back and gave him a glare. Mickey snickered and continued. 

"Ian where the fuck are you and why do you sound like that?!"

"I'm just.. uhh.. I'm in the snow. Mickey brought me to my sister's house and we're making snow angels."

"Mickey brought you, huh? Spending a lot of time with him lately don't you think?" Chris pressed. Ian's body stopped moving and he pushed Mickey right off of him. He stood up to walk towards the car, shaking snow off of himself. Mickey did the same and ran back to the car to blast the heat for them to warm up.

"No, Chris. I'm not spending a lot of time with him. You're always fucking busy anyway with your 'sales' job."

"Babe, I'm sorry. I've gotta make sure I'm there when my boss needs me. Just.. when are you coming home? It's gonna get bad tonight and I want you home. I'm sorry for yelling. Will you please come home soon?"

"Yeah, Chris. We'll be home soon. I think the storm is starting to lull anyway So we're leaving now before we can't leave at all." Ian said, looking over at Mickey who we basking in the heat, warming his pink face and red fingers.

"Good. I love you, baby. See you soon."

 _I love you, baby? The fuck?_ Ian thought to himself. 

"Yeah, see you soon." Before Ian went to hang up he heard Chris say his name.

"Ian?" Chris asked.

"Yeah?"

"Can you give the phone to Mickey please." Ian's heart dropped to the bottom of his stomach. His eyes widened with fear, not knowing what he would say to his secret lover. He smacked Mickey in the arm causing him to angrily look at Ian who was clearly frightened. He mouthed "what?" to Ian as he remained silent. He stared into Mickey's eyes as he answered Chris over the phone.

"Um. Yeah. Sure, Mickey's right here. He can talk to you." Ian said and dropped the phone from his ear, covering it with his hand so he could whisper. "He wants to talk to you."

"Me? Fuck. Why?" Mickey whispered back nervously. 

"I don't fucking know he just told me he wanted to!" Ian whispered back.

They went back and forth for a few more seconds until they heard a loud "hello?!" from the phone. "Fuck me." Mickey whispered and grabbed the phone from Ian's hand.

"Sup?" He tried to ask non-chalantly. Ian dropped his head to his hands covering his eyes and nearly cringing. 

"Hi, Mick. How was the run?"

"It was fine. Already told Paco we have his money and will give it to him tomorrow morning when the storm subsides."

"Great. Anything else?"

_Your boyfriend told me he loves me and not you._

"Nope. Nothing else for me."

"Hmm... where was Ian today?"

"Oh uh.. today Ian was at.." He looked to Ian frantically to remind him of the story Ian already told. He whispered 'Fiona's house!'.

"Well I dropped him at his sister's. They missed him and needed some family time. So I'm here with him now and we're on our way since the storm lightened up a bit. I gotta go before it picks back up." Mickey said, feeling sweat dripping down the back of his kneck and feeling beyond nervous. 

"Sure that was all today, Mick?" Chris questioned. 

"Yeah, of course Chris. We'll see you soon!"

"See ya." Chris replied and hung up the phone.

Mickey and Ian both let out a major sigh of relief. 

"Alright, let's get home before he gets even more suspicious, Pumpkin Patch." Mickey said, buckling his seatbelt.

"No! I can deal with your other lame nicknames for me but Pumpkin Patch is _not_ happening."

Mickey snickered. "He's an angry little Pumpkin." He said teasingly. Ian sighed and flipped him off, letting out the laughter he was trying to hide. 

They slowly got back on to the road and continued to joke and laugh as they safely traveled back towards home.

************************************

Chris hung up the phone after Mickey gave him a shady response and he started pacing in his room. He stopped and gripped the phone. He looked at the message one last time before continuing to pace furiously. 

Unknown Number (1:49PM): Hi Chris. It's Jose. I know what you did to my brother. Don't fucking think I don't. Now I can take something you want, too. Although, your friend seems pretty invested in him too. Saw him with Mickey today at Wes' place. We'll be after your redheaded whore when you least expect it. Fucking count on it.

"Mickey's a fucking deadman." Chris muttered under his breath. He gripped the phone even tighter, almost snapping it. He put it back in his pocket and began pacing, thinking of what his next move is going to be.


	20. No Way Out

It had been close to four by the time Mickey and Ian arrived back home due to the very slow driving under the weather conditions. The storm started to pick back up as they pulled in to the driveway. Mickey parked his car in the garage and stayed put inside of the Evo while Ian stared down at his phone scrolling through social media. He turned the car off, knowing he couldn't stay in it forever especially if his siblings or Chris heard his car. Iggy always says he can hear the loudness of his exhaust a mile away. Mickey always told him to stop being dramatic and to stop over exaggerating. 

"So are we good with the plan?" Mickey asked as Ian continued mindlessly scrolling.

"Yup. I told you the last 45 times you've asked as well. I think I'm fairly good with the plan." Ian responded in aggravation. Mickey exhaled and nodded.

They both stepped out of the car and headed towards the door leading in to the house. As Mickey grabbed the door knob, the door flung open from the other side. Mandy stood there staring at her brother and his secret lover in fear. She quickly looked back to make sure no one was there and stepped into the garage, shutting the door behind her. 

"Mickey, do you have any idea what kind of bullshit you've stirred up? Chris practically went postal on me when he woke up from his nap!" Mandy whispered deadpanning Mickey. 

"Fuck. What did he say? What does he think he knows?" Mickey asked.

"Oh I don't _think_ he thinks he knows something. I _know_ he knows. Fucking Jose texted him and told him about your little run in at that buyer's house this morning. I checked his phone about an hour ago when he was in the bathroom. He doesn't know that I know what he knows though!"

"Jesus, Mands! Enough with the 'he thinks' and 'he knows' bullshit. You're making my brain hurt. He called Ian a little while ago when we were stuck on the side of the room because of how bad the snow got, but he didn't mention anything."

"I'm not so sure what he's going to do, Mick. We never know with him. I'm very scared for you, though. For both of you. He had that exceptionally crazy look in his eye when he tried grilling me to find out where you were."

The door flung open startling the threw of them. It was Tony. He walked in and quietly shut the door behind him. He glared at Ian and turned his gaze back over to his brother.

"Jesus Christ Mickey! What did I tell you about this? I fucking told you that boy is a goddamn problem! He's not one of us, Mick. Look how much shit you're gonna be into now because of him! And Christ! Again with the fuckin animal marks on your neck!" Tony whispered angrily to his brother. Mickey put a hand on his own neck trying to cover the purple bruises. He looked at Ian and shot him a look to do the same. Realization struck Ian as he tried to fold in his neck non-chalantly to hide his markings as well.

"Hey! Ian's not the problem, here. Have you forgotten about what a psychopath Chris is in there?" Mickey said defending his probably not-so-secret-anymore lover.

"Wait a second. Tone knows? I didn't think you told anyone else about you being gay?" Mandy asked, annoyed by Tony's presence. 

"Jesus let's just scream it to the rooftops shall we?" Mickey hissed.

The door flung open again. In walked Iggy and Joey. Both of their eyes widened at what was happening. Iggy looked back into the house to make sure Chris wasn't around and he shut the door.

"Are we having one of those intervention things?" Iggy asked. Everyone shot an annoyed glance at him. They all sighed and groaned in unison. 

"Did you two dumbasses know that Mick is gay, too?" Mandy asked, annoyed to know she was no longer the only person to guard her brother's secret. 

"Yeah. We knew when we were kids, Mands. He never told us, per say. But we knew." Joey answered, giving a very red-faced Mickey an acknowledging look.

"Oh, great. So what, was I the last person to know Mick?" Mandy asked, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.

"Oh my God I am so done talking about this!" Mickey loudly whispered, throwing up his arms mortified by how this whole conversation was going. 

The garage was instantly filled with bickering Milkoviches and Ian had no idea if he should just go in the house to leave them to it or not. There were so many voices talking over eachother and he needed it to stop. His head was filling to capacity and he knew Mickey wasn't far behind getting ready to scream. 

"Guys! Stop!" Ian shouted causing the verbal Milkovich brawl to abruptly stop. Everyone looked at him and he started to blush. "Fuck.." He muttered under his breath. 

"You shut your fucking mouth Carrot Top! You're the reason our brother's life is on the line!" Tony yelled pointing at him.

"Whose life is on the line?" Iggy asked.

"Iggy how have you not gathered by this whole conversation that Mickey's banging Chris' boyfriend over here?" Joey snapped at his idiotic brother.

"Alright! I've fuckin had enough! Now that we've established everyone in the goddamn northern hemisphere knows I'm gay except for Chris, can we please just fucking drop it!" Mickey interjected.

They all went silent as they heard foot steps of Chris' combat boots stomping down the stairs. They all muttered "fuck" and tried to think quickly on what they should do next. Before they had time, the door opened. Chris looked at everyone for a moment taking in the sight of wide eyes staring back at him. He furrowed his brow. 

"The hell is this? A fuckin mutiny?" Chris asked, eyes looking at each person in the garage. 

"Nope! No one's deaf or mute in here." Iggy replied.

Chris stared at him, very unamused. "Does it hurt, Iggy, to be _that_ fucking brainless? I mean Christ. Someone put him our of his misery already."

Before Iggy was about to say something completely stupid, Joey kicked his ankle making him stop whatever idiotic comment was about to come out of his mouth.

"So what's going on in here?" Chris asked. Mickey thought that he looked too calm and relaxed for someone who knew his boyfriend was cheating on him with his best friend and coworker. "Baby? What are these fuckers trying to do to you?"

"N-nothing, Chris. Mick and I just got home from Fiona's and everyone happened to already be in the basement." Ian lied.

"Ah. I see. Well that's fine. Ian do you wanna come up to my room with me?" Chris asked reaching out his hand for Ian's. 

_He's fucking luring me out to kill me, I bet._ Ian thought to himself. 

"No I'm-"

"No? And why are you telling me 'no' right now?" Chris interrupted while glaring at a silent Ian.

"He said no, Chris. He's allowed to. Take it easy." Mickey tried to mediate. 

"Mickey Milkovich, I suggest you shut that loud mouth of yours before I shut it for you." Chris looked back to Ian. "I said let's go." 

Ian looked down. He had to do it. He hated it but he had to go with Chris in order for him and Mickey to eventually be together. He looked up at Chris and walked toward the man to grab his hand and follow him up to his bedroom, taking a piece of Mickey's heart with him as he left.

Mandy watched until they were out of sight and up the stairs. She shut the door and continued on with the conversation she was having with her brothers. 

"This is bad, Mick. He isn't saying a word to you about anything which means he could be taking it out on Ian right now. I knew this was a terrible idea from the get go. You should have never started anything up with him." Mandy lectured in a whisper. 

"Thank you, Captain Hindsight for your brilliance. Just.. everyone needs to keep their fucking mouths shut about this. Do we all understand? No one else can know about Ian and I." Mickey asked as everyone nodded. 

"I'll go up and check on them and listen for any yelling or something out of the ordinary." Tony offered.

Mickey nodded, giving his brother a thankful look. Tony headed inside to start his mission. Joey and Iggy left to go back to doing whatever it is that they do leaving Mickey and Mandy in the garage. 

"Mandy I'm sorry. I didn't think this would ever happen. We still don't know what Chris actually thinks or knows yet." Mickey said and Mandy nodded. She gave him one last look before opening the door and heading to the kitchen to finish her prep. Mickey sighed and kicked the trash bin next to him out of anger. How could he ever have allowed himself to do something so stupid he wondered. 

*******************************

"So I want you to know I trust you, Ian. We've only been dating for a few weeks now but I can't stop thinking about how much I already love you. Do you feel the same way?" Chris asked, laying next to his boyfriend in bed.

"Of course." Ian lied straight through his teeth. Both of them were laying on their backs on the bed and looking up at the ceiling. 

"Say it." Chris urged.

"Say what?"

"Tell me you love me."

"I just said-"

"Tell me you fucking love me!" Chris screamed, spitting everywhere when the words were leaving his mouth. 

_Jesus. He really is crazy._

"I uh love you."

"With more meaning now!"

"I fucking love you, Chris!" Ian yelled, his heart breaking as the words were coming out knowing they belonged to Mickey. 

"I'm so glad you do. I want nothing to ever come between us. No other guys. No nothing. I think it's time we take things to the next level."

"What do you mean by that?" Ian asked feeling honestly scared to know what he meant.

Chris raised his arm to show Ian his tattoo. "You see this? It's a v. Know what it's for?"

Ian shook his head, though he did know.

"It symbolizes the gang I'm in. The gang we're _all_ in. I don't work in sales. I told you that to protect you. I'm really a full time gang member. And with that being said, you are a risk to us. You could get us all killed. And I could never live with myself if that happened."

Ian discretely smiled. This must be Chris breaking up with him he thought. He could soon be free and be with Mickey finally. 

"So that means you're going to have to join us. Your imitation starts tonight. If Paco approves you, your wrist will be tattooed with a v like ours tomorrow morning. You don't have a choice now other then to join. You know too much."

And just like that, Ian's freedom was completely diminishing before his eyes. Ian sat up and looked at his boyfriend. "And what if Paco doesn't approve?"

"Then you die." Chris said bluntly. Ian swallowed hard and looked over at the closed door. He wanted to make a run for it but it was too late for that. He should have fucking sprinted weeks ago when he had the chance.


	21. The Plan

"What do I need to do?" Ian asked worrying what Chris would answer with. He was standing by the door but facing Chris who was still on the bed. Chris sat up and smiled.

"I need to know what you're capable of, baby. First, you're going to steal Mickey's car. Then were going to go pay Jose Garcia a visit for further instructions. You're going to wreck the shit out of that car by the way."

Ian's heart hurt. He knew where this was going but decided to play dumb anyway on the off chance that maybe Chris didn't know _everything._

"Isn't Mickey's car, like, super special to him? Why would we wreck another member's car especially another member who is in your own crew?"

"Because, baby. I see the way he looks at you. I see how he always wants to be alone with you. He hasn't hooked up with any girls in a long time and I'm beginning to think I know why. Maybe his sexual orientation isn't what he told me? But who could blame him, you're gorgeous. Everyone wants what they can't have, right?"

Ian lightly blushed knowing the answer to his question was absolutely yes. He turned to face the door. "We're not gonna... _hurt_ Mickey, are we?"

Chris snickered. "No, do you think I'm some sort of animal? I'd only hurt him if he's ever touched you." Ian adjusted his stance and became rigid. He knew Chris was about to ask and he had to put his best poker face on.

"Has he touched you, baby?"

"Never." Ian answered promptly and sounded believable. 

"Good. Because if he ever does, I'll do more than hurting him. I'll _fucking_ kill him. Do we have an understanding?"

Ian nodded, still facing the door with a tear rolling down his cheek. He was so fucked.

********************************

Tony quickly and quietly ran down the stairs into the living room to get Joey and Iggy to meet in the garage. He ran into the kitchen and whispered, "Garage!" She put down the turnip and ran to the door. Mickey was still in there chain smoking. Once all of them were in, Tony shut the door.

"That whack job up there told Ian about us!" Tony whispered frantically. 

"Fuck! Does that mean-"

"Yes, Mick! He's making him do the initiation tonight!"

"Well fuck! Did you hear what he has to do?" Mandy asked, face filled with worry.

Tony gulped. "I'm pretty sure Mick's the target."

All eyes were on Mickey. His face was white as a ghost and emotionless. He barely let out, "What did he say.."

"They're going to take your car tonight. Chris is making Ian drive and then wreck it. They're also going Jose's for 'further instructions' whatever the fuck that means."

Mickey shut his eyes tight. He brought both hands to the back of his head and started pulling on his own hair in aggravation. "He didn't say anything about offing me, though, right?"

"Well no. But he knows about you being gay by the way you've been eye fucking gingerbread every time you see him." Tony said matter-of-factly. 

"We need to think of something. Paco's never gonna approve Ian to join. He's too _fragile."_ Mandy said.

"He'll make it. I've seen him in the business." Mickey confessed turning the other way.

"What the fuck so you mean by that?" Tony asked as all Milkoviches glared at Mickey. 

"He uh.. He may have come with me on a few runsand sort of saved my ass before."

"You fucking exposed him to what we do and you're now surprised that this is finally catching up to bite you? Christ, Mick! You should have just put the goddamn tattoo on him when you first tool him." Tony said starting to fume. He walked towards Mickey ready to hit him and Mandy jumped in the middle to mediate. 

"Look, we can sit here and argue all day about what this dumbass here should have or shouldn't have done. But that's not going to change the fact that Ian's in for fucking life now. It doesn't change the fact that Chris is being shady and hasn't told us about that. And it also doesn't change that he's been talking with Jose? I mean, really, I think we've got some bigger problems at hand." Mandy said while in between them. She looked at each of her brothers and they eventually noddes.

"Good. Here's the plan. We're going to leave in my car soon. We'll tell Chris that Paco is sending us on an emergency run. We'll start to head towards the Ryders hideout. We'll stay put until we see them roll up and then we listen for whatever 'instructions' Jose has." Mandy looked at her brothers to make sure everyone knew the plan. She looked at Mickey whose eyes were to the floor looking defeated.

"Mick, we'll text Jimmy to have himfix your car. I know it's your pride and joy but this needs to happen so we make sure that nut job doesn't kill you _or_ Ian."

Mickey nodded. Joey spoke up, "Mickey, me and Ig will go up and distract him. We'll tell him Mandy needs to see Ian real quick about something having to do with Lip. Then we'll tell him we're heading out on a run amd keep him occupied so you can say what you gotta say to Ian. I'm sure it won't be hard with this idiot being entertainment enough!" He teased pointing at Iggy. Iggy flipped him off in return and Mickey smiled.

"Thanks, Joey. I'm gonna stay down here with Mandy, you guys go do your thing. You think you could bring me a change of clothes? I've been wearing this suit all day." Mickey said and the other three Milkovich brothers nodded and headed up stairs. Mandy shut the door and grabbed Mickey's already lit cigarette to take a drag.

"You think this will work?" He asked his sister. She exhaled the smoke and nodded.

"Yeah, I really do."

*********************************

Chris got up off the bed to walk over to Ian who was still facing the door. Ian quickly wiped away his tear and turned around to face the man. He mustered up a fake smile and Chris grinned back. Chris wrapped his arms around the redhead's waist to pull him in closer. He closed his eyes put his face into the crook of Ian's neck and inhaled. Thankfully, the markings that Mickey left behind were on the other side.

"Mmm. I missed the way you smell. The way you taste." Chris muttered. He pulled his head away from Ian's neck to look him in the eyes. Ian prayed to whoever that Chris couldn't see his mixture of terror and utter disgust behind his own eyes right now. Luckily, he didn't notice. Chris put his lips to Ian, kissing him ravenously. Ian opened his eyes wishing it would just stop. A loud knock on the door was Ian's excuse to push away and open the door.

Ian's brow furrowed to see Iggy and Joey standing there with crossed arms. "Mandy wants to see ya. Said it's about _Lip."_

Ian watched as Iggy's eyebrow raised when he said his brother's name. He shrugged and started to exit the room.

"Hey! Wait! You come back here and give me a kiss!" Chris yelled. Ian sighed heavily and turned around to walk over to his psychotic boyfriend to kiss him on the cheek before disappearing from the room.

"Jesus." Joey muttered under his breath starting to feel sorry for Ian.

Ian ran to the bathroom first. He was still wearing his suit and needed it off. He wasn't comfortable. He barged back into Chris' room interrupting the charade that Iggy and Joey were putting on.

"Um hey. Do you mind if I borrow some jeans and a t-shirt? This suit is really bothering me."

Chris immediately headed to his closet to hand Ian a pair of dark jeans and a black v-neck shirt. "I love that you'll be wearing my clothes, baby." Chris said while handing Ian the clothes. Ian gave a fake smile and ran back out of the room to head into the bathroom.

After he changed, he opened the door and nearly walked into Tony who was holding up a plastic bag of clothes. He handed it to Ian and whispered, "Mick asked for a change of clothes. Could you give this to him?"

Ian nodded with wide eyes. He grabbed the bag and ran down the stairs. Tony chuckled and barged into the room to make sure his brothers weren't drowning in there.

**********************************

"Can you give this to Mickey? Tony asked me to but I don't know where he is. And also, whatever Lip did to you, I'm really sorry. He's an asshole and-"

Mandy stopped chopping and turned around to face Ian. "Mickey's waiting for you in the garage. Take the clothes to him he was sick of wearing that suit but was too afraid he might see Chris upstairs."

"So you don't want to talk about Lip?"

"Fuck No. You're right. He is an asshole and I never deserved the way he treated me. Now hurry. My brothers are upstairs distracting Chris so you and Mick can talk."

Ian smiled feeling relieved and ran to the garage door. He saw Mickey facing the car holding a cigarette but he didn't move to look behind him. Ian shut the door and slowly walked over to Mickey. 

"I uh brought your clothes that Tony asked for." 

Mickey dropped the cigarette and stepped on it to put it out. He spun around to face the redhead. 

"Ian, I know what you need to do tonight. I know what he _wants_ you to do. I'm just so sorry for everything. I never meant for any of this to happen. I know you've gotta wreck my car because that's Chris' way of silently giving me a 'fuck you'. Whatever it is that he asks you to do tonight, you just fucking do it. He'll kill you or our boss will kill you if you don't."

Ian's eyes started to water and Mickey moved closer to gently put a hand in his cheek. He held his gaze in to Ian's eyes. "I love you too, Ian. Shit, I've never felt this way about anyone before and I can't stop it anymore. You just make me feel so fucking free. You're everything I need, Ian. That's why I need you to just do whatever Chris asks, okay?"

Ian nodded and looked down to the ground. He inhaled and exhaled. His eyes moved back up to Mickey's worried eyes. He let himself go; freeing himself to the man he actually loves.

Ian tenderly pushed his lips on to Mickey's. The kiss was soft and gentle until Mickey needed more. He craved more. He deepened the kiss and picked Ian up to walk him up against the wall. Ian's back crashed against the wall. He hadn't noticed, though, as he wrapped his arms tightly around Mickey's neck and kissed back with force.

"I fucking love you." Ian moaned out, still gripping on to Mickey as he was held against the wall.

"Need you right now." Mickey muttered. He dropped Ian down and pushed into him against the wall. He pulled off Ian's shirt and slid his hand down to grab Ian's hardened cock over his jeans. Ian sighed into the kiss and Mickey knew he had him. He unbuttoned Ian's jeans and slid his hand in to slowly jerk at Ian's dick making the man let out more light moans and sighs.

"I want you _now."_ Mickey whispered and Ian froze. He slowly opened his eyes to look at Mickey's lust filled ones. 

"Are you sure? We don't even have lube." Ian asked, still panting. Mickey pushed himself off the wall and walked over to the bag in the middle of the garage that Ian brought. He sniffed, reaching in to the bag and pulling out the jeans that he asked Tony to grab. He put his hand in the pocket and grabbed a small bottle of lube out of them. Ian snickered. 

"Do you always keep on-the-go lube with you at all times?"

Mickey walked with haste back over to Ian and crashed his lips into the latter's. "I do when you're around." He muttered. 

Ian pulled away again, "Wait. Isn't this insane? Do we have enough time?"

"If you don't get on me right now, i swear to God Ian." Mickey panted out, needing him right now.

The redhead smirked and pulled him back in, savoring the time they had left. He ripped Mickey's dress shirt open, ripping the buttons off too. He pulled the shirt off as Mickey wiggled out of it. He began to unbutton Mickey's pants and pulled them down. Ian pulled down his own jeans and pressed back against Mickey to deepen the kiss. He lightly pushed Mickey back and wrapped an arm around his waist. He took his other hand and spun him around so that his backside was facing the man.

"Fuck, I like it when you're rough." Mickey snickered. Ian chuckled darkly and pulled down the man's boxer briefs with haste knowing they didn't have long. He pulled down his own boxer briefs and bent Mickey over. He leaned his body over the back of Mickey's and squeezed some lube on to his own hand to get his fingers slick.

"I'm going to stick one finger in at a time, is that okay?" Ian asked starting to Palm Mickey's was.

"Jesus yes! Fucking hurry!" 

Ian snickered. "You're a little bossy bottom, aren't you?" 

Before Mickey could answer, Ian stuck a lube-slicked finger into his hole. Mickey let out a soft moan. Ian began to kiss his shoulder blade and asked, "Does that feel good?"

"More." Was all Mickey could say. Ian slowly stuck another finger and Mickey shut his eyes tightly. He felt the burning sensation that quickly changed to pleasure as Ian started to move his fingers around. He added in one more and Mickey brought he knuckle up to his mouth to bite down.

"Is this good?" Ian asked, still kissing Mickey's shoulder blade while moving his fingers around feeling the the man seemed ready.

"Fucking do it now." He said still biting down on his knuckles. Ian snickered and pulled his fingers out to stroke and slick his own cock. Once he was ready, he slowly pushed in to Mickey allowing him to feel the tip first. Mickey let out a painful sigh, biting even harder down into his knuckle. Ian froze not knowing what he should do next until his bossy bottom ordered, "Fucking move, Gallagher!"

Ian smirked and thrusted into him. Ian shut his eyes feeling how tight Mickey felt. "So fucking tight, Mick." He muttered out and started to thrust again.

Mickey felt the pain quickly turning into pleasure. "Harder." He moaned out and Ian obliged. He pounded into him, holding his hips to push in further. Once he hit Mickey's prostate, the man let out another sigh. 

"Right fucking there, Ian. Keep going." 

Ian pushed into him and kept thrusting harder with each roll of his hips. He felt himself nearing an orgasm and began to thrust quicker and harder. Mickey was right there with him. 

"Fuuuck." Mickey sighed out cumming hard on to the ground, complety untouched. That's all Ian needed to release. It was the hottest thing he'd ever seen and he came right after.

They both panted and Ian eventually pulled out of Mickey to put his clothes back on. Mickey reach for the dreas shirt and wiped the mess up on the ground with it. He tossed the shirt in the trash bin and walked over to the bag to put on his clothes. After he was dressed, he lit a cigarette and inhaled. "Why haven't we done this before? Christ." Mickey said exhaling the smoke out.

Ian chuckled and reached for the cigarette. Mickey handed it to him and laughed. "Think you're a tough guy now that Chris is trying to make you join us?" He teased.

Ian exhaled the smoke without coughing up a lung this time. "You love it." Ian teased back and handed him the cigarette. 

"Sure do." Mickey said bluntly. 

Their moment was interrupted by Mandy flinging the door open. "Chris is coming! Act like you guys were talking to me in here! And fix your sex hair, Jesus!"

Ian's heart raced as he ran his hand through his hair to fix it and anticipated Chris ruining his time with Mickey yet again.


	22. The Promise

"How's Lip?" Chris pressed in suspicion to Mandy while darting angry glances at Mickey. 

"Oh um he's alright. Ian was just giving me advice on how to approach the situation." Mandy lied and mustering up a fake smile.

"And what situation would that be?" Chris asked, clearly reading through the bullshit. 

"She wanted to know if he would still be interested in dating her. They ended on a pretty bad note. Lip was basically a dick to her. But she still uh has feelings for him." Ian lied interjecting for Mandy. She glanced over at Ian giving him a look that read 'Thank you'. 

Chris deadpanned Ian now. He raised an eyebrow and noticed Ian's fly was still unzipped. He glanced over at Mickey who was still smoking a cigarette and facing his car pretending to work on something. Chris sniffed and scratched his head. Before speaking he cracked his neck and stared back into Ian's eyes.

"Baby, your fly is unzipped."

Ian instantly began to blush and zipped it with haste. "Oh jeeze. I sometimes have a habit of that when I go to the bathroom. Silly me." He said nervously. Chris nodded slowly.

"Yeah, silly you." Chris said. "We've gotta go now. Are you done with this little discussion?"

_Yeah, I'm done fucking the shit out of Mickey while you were upstairs._

"Uh yeah. Let's go." Ian said, though preferring to say what he was actually thinking. 

"Oh and Mickey?" Chris asked. Mickey never turned his body around so fast.

"Yeah?"

"Gonna need your keys, bud. We're gonna have a family meeting when we get back. But Ian's going to his initiation right now. I made the decision on my own and I should have consulted with everyone about it first but you seem.. _preoccupied_ lately."

"We'll talk when you get back. Why do you need my car?"

"Because I motherfucking said so, goddamnit!" Chris snapped causing Mandy to jump. Mickey tossed his cigarette to the side and approached Chris.

"Excuse me?" Mickey challenged having enough of Chris' shit. "First you just waltz in here to tell us that you fucking decided to have your flavor of the month commit to our crew for life which is a very _very_ poor decision might I add. And then, upon making said decision without consulting with any of us, you ask for the keys to my fucking car. Who the fuck do you think you are?" Mickey stood up to Chris getting in his face.

Chris whipped out his glock and pointed it right at Mickey. Mandy screamed and Ian froze in fear. Mickey didn't even flinch. 

"You wanna step up to me like the big bad thug you think you are? You're nothing but a fucking pussy. Think I haven't noticed you eye-fucking my boyfriend? You're too pussy to even admit that you ain't even straight. You're worthless scum and could never _ever_ get a guy like Ian. He doesn't fucking want you, Mick. Tell him, baby!"

Ian just stared at Chris with despair in his eyes. Mandy brought her hand up to her mouth while staring at Ian's frightened face.

"Fucking tell him or else I'll blow his fucking brains out on to the cement!" Chris yelled turning the safety off and cocking the gun.

"I... Don't want you." Ian whispered out still staring at Chris. He felt his heart shattering.

"Fucking look at him and say it like you mean it, Christ! Tell him he's worthless and you don't want him!" Chris screamed, eyes looking insane. 

Ian turned slowly to look at Mickey. The icy blue eyes started to fill with water and Ian swallowed back his own tears.

"You're worthless. I don't want you." Ian whispered. 

"Louder!" Chris ordered. 

"For fucks sake, Chris! He's had enough!" Mandy interjected. Chris walked over to Mandy and smacked her in the face with the back of his hand causing her to fall over. Mickey started to move towards her and Chris stopped him aiming the gun back in his face.

"You're not going anywhere you piece of shit." Chris muttered. Mickey looked to his sister who was silently crying on the ground and holding her cheek. 

"Baby, I want you to do something for me that's part of your initiation. We're starting early."

Ian looked in his psychotic boyfriend's direction to see he was handing him the gun. "Take it." Chris urged. Ian obliged. 

"I want you to pistol whip Mickey with this and then we're going to take his car and go."

"What? No!" Ian answered feeling sick to his stomach. 

"If you don't do it, I'll fucking kill him right now. Don't push me." Chris ordered with psychotic rage behind his words.

Ian's eyes began to swell with tears as he looked over at Mickey. His hands were shaking and be nearly jumped when Chris stomped his combat boot on to the ground and screamed, "Do it!"

_I'm so sorry, Mickey._

Ian quickly brought his arm back and swung the gun across Mickey's face. Ian instantly dropped the gun and ran to the trash bin to vomit. Mickey dropped to the ground, blood streaming down his face from the gash on the side of his forehead. The force of being hit knocked him out cold. Mandy screamed and ran to her brother, holding him and putting pressure on his wound. Chris laughed darkly and grabbed Ian by the back of the shirt. He dragged him to the car and opened the driver door.

"Pull yourself together, Ian. You're driving."

Ian was shaking uncontrollably. "M-my coat. It's cold and s-snowy."

Chris sighed in aggravation. He walked over to the door leading into the house to find a random jacket hanging over a chair. He grabbed Mickey's keys as well and stormed back over to the car. His demeanor changed when he saw how Ian's expression revealed fear and disgust. He put the jacket over Ian and rubbed his hands over the jacket on Ian's arms.

"I'm sorry, Ian. That was necessary. I need to see that you're gonna ride for me when I need you. He's going to be fine but he needed to know his place. He needed to know you're mine. I love you."

Mickey fluttered his eyes open and turned his head to look over at the love of his life who was just forced to pistol whip him. He heard Ian mutter back "I love you too." Mickey closed his eyes not wanting to hear anymore and watched as they got in his car. Ian glanced at Mickey showing the despair in his eyes. He couldn't bare to look at Mickey so he turned his head to face front. Chris hit the button to open the garage and ordered Ian to go. Mandy watched as Ian gunned it out of the garage, not knowing how to control a car with such strong horsepower and turbo yet. He drove into the mailbox accidentally and headed out into the storm.

Mandy wiped tears from her face and looked back down to her brother. He looked broken. Empty. 

"Mick... Are you okay?"

Mickey remained silent replaying everything in his head from today. Just minutes before, everything was beautiful. It turned to shit so quickly and Mickey balled his fists in rage. Mandy felt him tense his body and she looked down to try to read his facial expression. 

"Mick?"

"Let's fucking hurry and follow them before they get too far." Mickey spoke out without any emotions apparent.

Mandy nodded. They both stood up and headed inside to get their brothers and for Mickey to cover up his wound. Once ready, they grabbed their guns and headed for Mandy's Subaru. Mandy headed for the driver's seat and Mickey pushed her aside to get in. She rolled her eyes and got in the passenger seat. He started the car and revved the engine. He bolted forward, not even caring that the snow was coming down hard making it almost impossible to see.

"Mickey slow down! You're gonna get us killed!" Tony yelled from the backseat but Mickey ignored him. By the grace of whoever, they somehow caught up to the Evo driving recklessly on the highway. Mickey couldn't see much infront of him but he saw the red hair in the driver's seat. Mickey gripped the steering wheel holding in his rage and continued to follow them.

He saw Chris lunge his hands near Ian causing him to swerve right into another car, pushing the other car off the road. The Evo fish tailed and the other car barrel rolled down the hill off the side of the highway. The Milkoviches all watched in fear not knowing if the people in that car were okay or not. The Evo suddenly braked hard and spun out of control off the side of the highway, matching a similar barrel roll down the hill on the side of the highway like the other car. 

"Ian!" Mickey yelled as he slammed on the brakes knowing how to control the car to spin out into a donut. As the car spun out of the donut to head towards the the flipped over smoking Evo, he crashed into another car head on. The collision causing the opposite car to spin out of control and hit other cars that were coming. A giant pile up formed behind the Subaru as their car spun out into the road and Mickey was able to get the car to finallt come to a stop.

"Fuck is everyone okay?" He yelled looking over his family. Everyone groaned but said yes. He sighed in relief that his siblings were okay but suddenly remembered Ian might not be. He opened the door and attempted to run toward the edge of the road before the drop of the hill. He slipped on the ice and snow and got back up to run to the edge. 

He saw Ian punch out the window and start to drag his own body out of the car. He got himself up and stumbled over. He regained his balance and limped over to the passenger side to kick open the window and pull Chris out. Chris stood up looking completely fine and wrapped his arms around Ian's waist. He kissed Ian tenderly and pulled away to help him run off into the night. Mickey couldn't watch anymore. He headed back to the beat up Subaru and got in.

"Aren't you going down there? We also just pulled a hit and run. We could have killed those people!" Joey said frantically.

Mickey started the car and pushed forward heading home.

"Mickey aren't-"

"Stop fucking talking." Mickey interrupted his brother. "Mandy send Jimmy a text telling him about both cars. Tell him mine needs an immediate tow ASAP. They fucking just left it there."

Mandy stared at Mickey for a moment to see that her brother was losing his shit. She sniffled back tears and pulled out her phone to do as her brother asked.

********************************

"Chris wait!" Ian yelled limping after him through the storm.

"Jose lives close by after this little gas station. Almost there, baby. You're doing so good!"Ian sighed and tried to keep his pace up to meet Chris. 

They finally made it to Jose's and Chris banged on the door. The sound of locks unlocking traveled quickly and the door flung open.

"You're late. And..bleeding?" Jose questioned looking specifically at Ian who had cuts and scrapes on his face.

"Car troubles." Chris answered bluntly. Jose nodded and opened the door. They stepped inside to see a man in his late twenties tied up in a chair. He had duct tape over his mouth to hinder his screams. Ian already felt sick to his stomach not knowing what they wanted him to do.

"Hello, Ian. Chris tells me this is your initiation."

"Aren't you two supposed to hate eachother or something?" Ian asked causing Jose shift uncomfortably. 

"You see, Ian. He took something from me. My brother. I know that and there's no way of denying that. However, I wanted to take something from him in return. _You._ But he offered me something better. He told me that he could double cross Paco to get me whatever I want without him knowing. So you see that piece of dog shit tied up over there? He's one of Paco's biggest buyer's for drugs. He's also stolen from me before. So you're going to kill him for me so the blood's not on my hands."

Ian's eyes widened in fear and he limped backwards stumbling into the table. "I uh.. I can't kill him."

"Why the fuck not? You wanna be apart of his crew don't you?" Jose asked nodding in Chris' direction. 

"Not at the expense of killing some random innocent guy!"

"See that's where you're wrong. He's not innocent. He's a worthless junkie swine who stole from me and gives Paco all of his money. As far as I'm concerned, you're just doing Chicago a favor by taking him off the streets." Jose said matter-of-factly. 

"I-I can't. I couldn't-"

"If you don't we'll just kill you instead." Jose interrupted cocking his gun and handing it to Ian. Ian swallowed and slowly took the gun and limped over to the man who looked frightened and started screaming. The sounds were muffled by the duct tape and Ian wanted to vomit again.

"Rough him up, baby! You got this!" Chris urged.

Ian saw the terror in the man's eyes and knew that he probably saw the despair in his own. Jose walked over to the man in the chair and punched him in the face. "You thought you could get away with stealing from me? You're gonna fucking regret the day you ever stole from me!" Jose punched the man again.

"Hit him, baby!" Chris screamed and Ian obliged. He bashed the man over the head with the gun. As the blood ran down the man's face and got on his own shirt and skin, he wanted to barf. "Shoot him." Chris ordered. The man in the chair tried screaming more and Ian raised the gun up. 

"Ian you have five seconds. If you don't do this now I'm killing you right here." Jose ordered. 

Ian was trembling. His hand was shaking holding the gun not wanting to be anywhere near Chris anymore. 

"Five." Jose started counting down.

Ian wanted to just be back with Mickey. He wanted to wrap his arms around him and sob into his chest for doing something so horrible to him. He knew Mickey understood why he did it but he couldn't bare the thought of hurting his lover.

"Four."

Ian stared at the man in the chair. He couldn't take this anymore. He wanted to put the gun to his own head and pull the trigger. 

"Three."

He could hear the man begging for his life. He felt vomit starting to come up.

"Two!"

_I'm so sorry._

"One."

Jose pulled out a gun and Ian shot the man in the chair before Jose pulled the trigger. Ian watched as if it was all in slow motion. The man's body went completely limp and his head dropped down. Ian dropped the gun and fell to his knees. 

"What have I done.." He whispered to himself, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Two other men appeared from the hall and pulled the dead body away. Ian remained motionless on his knees.

"Thank you, Ian. I know your first time is hard but it will get easier. I think you have really great potential. I'll have Doug drive you guys home." Jose said nodding to one of the two men that were dragging the body away.

Chris walked over to Ian and wrapped his arms around him. "You did great, babe. I can't wait to do some real Bonnie and Clyde shit with you in the future."

Ian whipped his head up to look at him. He never wanted be anywhere near the man ever again. But he was petrified to say no. His heart felt like it was ripped out of his chest. He wiped the tears from his face and nodded. Chris helped him up and followed Doug out to the car.

When they sat in the backseat, Ian felt his phone vibrate. While Chris was busy looking at his own phone, he pulled his out to read the message. 

Mickey (1:56AM): I can't do this anymore. 

Ian (1:56AM): Please don't say that..

Mickey (1:57AM): I'm sorry. I can't come second anymore. I deserve more than that. 

Ian (1:57AM): You're not second! I don't even like Chris! He made me do that shit or else he'd kill you Mickey!

Mickey (1:59AM): Yeah well maybe I'm just better off dead then.

Ian (1:59AM): Mick don't say that.. I love you. Please.

Mickey (2:01AM): I'd rather be dead than to know you're never going to be completely mine. 

Ian (2:01AM): Just stop. We're going to be home soon. Just please wait for me. Promise me you're going to wait for me. I'm going to drug Chris again and then I'll be up to your room. Just promise me you'll wait. 

Ian (2:03AM): Promise me, Mick.

Mickey (2:05AM): I promise. 

Ian put the phone in his pocket before Chris noticed. He felt hot tears streaming down his cheeks. _What have I done.._

********************************

Mickey rolled over in his bed, clutching Ian's suit that he left behind when he changed out of it. He sniffled letting the tears roll down his cheeks. He sat up and polished off the bottle of Jack that he had left in his room. He stumbled to the bathroom and shut the door.

Mickey turned the faucet on and splashed water over his face. He looked up into the mirror and hated the person staring back at him. He punched the mirror shattering the glass. His drunken body swayed back and forth. He decided to head back to his room before he could cause anymore damage. He stumbled back to the bedroom and plopped onto his bed. 

"I love you too, Ian." He whispered and went back to clutching his lover's clothes wishing this would all just finally go away.


	23. Karissa

"Hey, Mick? Can we come in please?" Mandy asked behind his closed door. She was standing with Tony who was very distraught as well.

"Mick we brought you up some cookies that Mands made from scratch. We know you're awake. We just heard the glass break in the bathroom."

Mickey burrowed his head into the pillow to try and drown them out. All he wanted was to either sleep or be with Ian. He knew that he could positively have one of those options at least. He closed his eyes and tried to sleep off the drunken stooper he'd gotten himself into.

"I'm gonna leave the cookies outside of your room okay? We love You, Mick." Mandy said voice sounding concerned. Tony sighed heavily and started for the stairs. Once Mandy saw that he made it down to join his brothers to play video games, she barged into Mickey's dark room letting in the bright lights from the hallway.

"The fuck!" He slurred out from under his pillow.

"Mickey you know drinking isn't going to make your problems go away. Every time you do this you give up on yourself. I'm not letting you give up now." Mandy lectured. 

"Mandy I'm way too trashed right now for your whole 'Believe in Yourself' bullshit speech. I've been fucked for life since the day I was born and even with Terry gone, I'm still fucked. We're stuck in this shitty ass life with that fucking monster who's probably going to end up just killing us anyway." He rolled onto his back to make his words more clear, though, still sounding a bit slurred due to his advanced state of inebriation. 

Mandy walked over to her brother and put the plate of cookies down on his night stand. She grimaced when she saw the bottle of lube and picked it up dramatically with her index finger and thumb to put it in his drawer. She wiped her hand on her leggings and took a cookie off the plate, taking a large bite.

"Not unless we kill him first." She said with a mouth full of cookie.

Mickey rolled his head over to look at her. She saw that he wasn't joking about being trashed. His eyes were filled with sadness but the look on his face was taken over by the alcohol. 

"Yeah okay. How we gonna do that?" Mickey spit out reaching for a cookie and sloppily trying to take a bite.

"Well first you need to sober up and sleep this shit off. Tomorrow morning I'll tell you what Tone and I came up with." She smiled taking another bite of a cookie. Her smile quickly diminished when she saw her brother was too drunk to even swallow a cookie as he started to choke on it. She swiped the cookie from his hand and pulled him up so that he could sit up and swallow down the cookie. He reached into the drawer of his nightstand and found a close-to-being-empty bottle of vodka. He tried to take a swig to wash down the cookie but Mandy snatched it from him. He glared up at her and flipped her off.

"Jesus! No more fucking alcohol. I'm bringing you some water so you better drink it, bitch."

Mickey tried to roll his eyes but noticed when his eyes were looking up that there were headlights reflecting on the ceiling. "Oh fuck." He muttered. He looked over to Mandy who was already gone to get him water.

He heard two car doors open and slam shut and he laid back down to shut his eyes and let sleep take him.

Mandy grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, looking inside and marvelling at all of her hard work she did that day for prepping. She shut the fridge door and screamed when she saw a beat up, bloody Ian standing in front of her. His face was expressionless and he looked like just a mindless corpse. Looking as if he no longer had a soul.

"Jesus, Ian. You scared the shit out of me!" Mandy said while putting her hand over her heart. She really looked at the redhead and furrowed her brow. "Ian.. Why are you covered in blood.."

"He made me do it. He made me do it." Ian repeated in a quiet monotonous voice, eyes staring straight ahead but looking at nothing. Killing someone sent him right into a state of shock truly fucking him up.

"I-Ian. Who made you do what?"

"He made me. He counted to five.." Ian trailed off. He slowly moved his head to look into Mandy's eyes. Tears started forming in his own.

"Ian whose blood is this?" She asked touching his face to wipe off some of the blood. He grabbed her hand startling her and his eyes widened when he saw the blood that didn't belong to him. He pushed through Mandy to stand in front of the sink to vomit. She walked over to him and started gently rubbing his back knowing exactly who was responsible for this. As if on cue, Chris walked into the kitchen with a grin on his face. 

"Mandy. You're up late." He greeted though not caring to talk to her. 

"What did you fucking do, Chris? He can't even speak right now and he's covered in blood!" Mandy screamed. She was mortified.

"Oh don't be so dramatic. He passed the initiation is all. Nothing that we all haven't done." He said bluntly, giving her a judgemental look thinking back to her initiation. 

"You're a fucking psycho! Just look at him. He's nearly frightened to death. The fuck is wrong with you!" She yelled while hovering over Ian to protect him. He looked up at Chris with fear in his eyes. Chris took a step forward and Mandy grabbed the kitchen knife off of the counter top and held it out in front of her. 

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Are you taking notes from Michael Meyers now? Jesus put the kitchen knife down."

"Back the _fuck_ away." She gritted through her teeth unamused by his joke and continued to hold the knife up.

Chris let out a laugh and then that fucking switch went off, dropping any sort of expression from his face. "Mandy, you stupid cunt. Get the fuck out of my way!"

Her brothers ran in to the kitchen to see what the yelling was about. Tony slowly walked towards Mandy.

"Mands... What are you doing?" Tony asked looking at the knife in her hand.

"This motherfucker forced Ian to kill someone for his initiation. Clearly fucked him up. Now Chris thinks he's gonna just come in here and take Ian up to do God only knows what."

Tony moved his gaze to Chris. The man truly looked frightening. His hazel eyes were darker than usual and blood shot. His usual slicked back hair was crazy and messy. He looked strung out, though, none of them would doubt he wasn't on drugs.

"Chris maybe you should just go up to bed. Let me take care of Ian and he'll be good as new in the morning." Tony said calmly trying to mediate the heated situation. 

Chris flung his head back and bellowed a laugh. Tony honestly was frightened by the psychopath standing in front of him. Chris looked straight ahead to face Tony. 

"Yeah. Okay Tone. I'll just go up to bed now. Have a good night everyone." He walked past Mandy who was still holding the knife. He stopped in front of Ian and kissed his forehead. Ian flinched away and Chris sniffed. He pushed past him and headed up the stairs.

Everyone exhaled in relief once they heard the shower in the upstairs bathroom starting.

"We gotta do something about him. The guy's too fucking dangerous to still be breathing." Tony whispered to his siblings.

"I agree. We just need to figure out when the timing would be right. We need to come up with a better plan then just killing him in his sleep, Tone." Mandy whispered back. 

Ian turned his body around to face them. He looked uneasy and over all emotionally drained.

"I might be able to help you guys." Ian quietly muttered causing the Milkoviches to snap their heads in his direction. 

"You've put us all through enough. I think we're fine without your help. You're just an outsider." Tony hissed. 

"But I might have useful infor-"

"I said we're fucking fine without you!" Tony snapped at Ian. 

"Tone. Let him talk. It's not his fault that Chris is mentally deranged." Mandy tried to interject. 

"Oh I'm sorry, Mands. So it's not his fault he pistol whipped our brother after screwing him only moments before in the garage? That's the story you told me, right? Oh and it's not his fault that he completely wrecked Mick's car on purpose? Or that he fucking put us all in danger because he can't keep it in his fucking pants?" Tony bellowed. 

"He _loves_ Mickey, Tone! Just fucking open your eyes and pull your head out of your ass for a goddamn second! Mickey's never been happier than now especially being stuck with this shitty life we live. This guy right there that you're yelling at, whether he put us in danger or not, is unconditionally in love with our brother. Yes, it's completely fucked and he should have stayed the fuck away like I told him to. But life doesn't always go as planned and you of all people should understand that. Remember Karissa?" Mandy asked staring at Tony with wild eyes. 

"Don't even go there, Mandy. This is different." Tony lowered his voice looking in the opposite direction. 

"Different how?" Mandy pushed. 

Tony sighed and brought his hand to his face. "Please just drop it."

"No. I'm not going to just drop it. Tell me how this is any fucking different from Karissa."

"Mandy, stop. He's going to snap like he does every time we bring her up." Joey interjected. 

Tony pounded his fist down on to the kitchen island. "Fucking Christ! Please just stop!" Tony yelled.

Mandy walked over to her brother and got in his face. She lowered her voice. 

"You _loved_ her. You pulled the same shit as Mickey. She went on secret runs with you, helped you out a few times, saved your fucking ass on more than one occasion. But you knew things would never last because she was Paco's wife. She knew what she was getting herself into and so did you. When we found out about her, sure we were pissed. But we accepted it because she was what grounded you. Kept you sane. Made you happy. Until one day, your secret fairy tale ended. Paco found out Karissa was cheating but thank God he never found out it was with you. He fucking killed her right then and there. Do you remember how you felt that day when Paco called us up to tell us that he shot her? His own wife?"

Tony had tears streaming down his face and he looked to the ground knowing that he was wrong. 

Mandy bit back tears thinking back to the memories. "You're our brother, Tone. We ride with you and die with you. Karissa was your soul mate and you would have saved her if you had the chance. Ian is Mickey's. You need to accept that. We can't let him be another Karissa. We just can't. We ride with Mickey no matter what. Even if his choices aren't particularly smart."

She looked over at Ian who was teary eyed from the sad tale and put a hand on his shoulder. She smiled warmly at him. "We need to get rid of Chris before shit like that happens and Mickey goes postal. You're an easy going guy whether you want to admit that or not. But Mickey.. He isn't afraid to step up to Chris. That's why he got pistol whipped. We'll regroup in the afternoon when Chris leaves to go see Paco like usually does."

"He's playing you guys." Ian confessed quietly and Tony wiped his tears away to look at him.

"What did you just say?" Joey asked.

"I said he's playing you guys. He's double crossing Paco. Your crew. Your loyalty. My initiation was to shoot one of Paco's biggest clients. Some junkie or whatever. But it was for Jose Garcia. Jose knows what you guys did to Jason and said that he wanted to come after me to even the board. Chris offered to do secret dirty work against Paco instead. Said he'd help him eliminate Paco's clients and other loose ends that Jose needed done. He had me kill him because they said they didn't want the blood on their hands. Chris is taking me to see Paco tomorrow afternoon to get the approval and everything."

As Ian confessed, they all stared silently at him. 

Tony shook his head not even surprised by it. Mandy looked to Tony as everything clicked in her mind. "This is exactly what we needed. If we set him up, Paco will surely kill Chris himself!" Mandy exclaimed. 

"One problem. Chris is Paco's golden child for whatever reason. I don't know if he'd actually kill him or not." Tony explained. 

"Only one way to find out. Ian, you go to your meeting with them tomorrow and discretely call us before you go in. Make sure the phone is hidden in your pocket and we'll keep our end muted so no one hears us. I wanna make sure we can hear everything that the lying son of a bitch is saying to Paco about what you did for your initiation. Tony, you and Mick pay Jose a visit first thing in the morning. Make him talk and confess to it and make sure your phone is recording to atleast get an audio clip of it. Then we'll meet back here assuming Jimmy will have the cars fixed and we'll head out to the hideout to blast Chris! I'll send Jimmy another text telling him it's urgent that the cars need to be ready by the afternoon. He'll pull through."

They all nodded and watched as Mandy sent Jimmy the text message. Tony looked out the window over the sink to see the storm had majorly subsided. Things were really starting to look up. 

"What do me and Joey do?" Iggy asked furrowing his brow and interrupting the silence.

Mandy rolled her eyes and sighed. "I guess you can go with Tone and Mick but just no funny business. I'm talking to you, Iggy!"

Iggy flipped her off and nodded.

"Do we all understand the plan? We need to go to sleep to make sure we're rested. Ian you're going to have to go up and sleep with Chris tonight to relieve any suspicion. Mickey's pretty obliterated anyway so I'm sure he's passed out by now." Mandy said and Ian sighed.

"Yeah. I can do that." He said not looking forward to it but feeling hopeful that this would be the last time ever that he'd have to sleep next to him.

Mandy looked at her brothers. "Are we all good with everything for tomorrow?" They all nodded. 

She smiled. "Alright, let's rock this bitch."

They all headed upstairs and Ian went into the bathroom where Chris was. He sighed, knowing he had to take one for the team. 

"Babe, is that you?" Chris asked shutting off the water. Ian felt relieved to know he could take his own shower by himself now.

"Uh yeah. I just wanted to get in the shower before we go to sleep. Rough day."

Chris grabbed a towel from the hanging rack and wrapped it around his waist. He got out and looked intently at Ian. 

"I'm really proud of you for today, Ian. You're gonna be great. See you in bed. I'm exhausted." Chris said. He kissed Ian on the cheek and left the bathroom. Ian shut the door and locked it making sure Chris wouldn't be coming back in. 

He started the shower and undressed. The warmth of the shower felt great on his tightened muscles, washing away the bullshit he'd gone through today. Ian thought back to the story of Karissa and felt his heart ache for Tony. He knew that what they had to do tomorrow was a necessary step to take in order for him to not end up like her. He needed to be with Mickey as he was the only person who ever truly made him feel whole.

 

Ian felt a sudden rush of adrenaline. It was a similar feeling he'd get when he was with Mickey. He smiled under the hot beads of water coming down on him knowing tomorrow was the day he and Mickey could truly be free.


	24. So Contagious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song:
> 
> So Contagious by Acceptance

Ian woke up at six in the morning, naturally uncomfortable sleeping next to someone he loathed. He removed Chris' arm from around his waist and got up to head for the bathroom. Quietly, he got out of bed and picked up the clothes that Chris laid out for him the night before. He opened the door and made his way to the bathroom. The hallway was completely silent as he figured the rest of the Milkovich siblings were asleep. 

Even though he showered merely a few hours ago, he needed the feel of the hot water on his body. His body was stiff and muscles aching from the crash. He felt more relaxed when the water pressure beat into his back. The thought of today's scheme made him feel nervous but definitely ready. It could go either very well, or it could go poorly. But that was a risk he would be willing to take if it meant being with Mickey. 

As he stepped out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist, his phone rang. He furrowed his brow wondering who would be calling him so early. He didn't even look at the caller ID and just answered it in case it was Fiona or Lip with some family emergency. 

"Hello?" He answered. 

"Hey, stranger. Long time no talk." Jennifer said and Ian sighed with relief no one was dying or something at his old home.

"Hey, Jennifer!"

"Are we still gonna keep up with tradition tonight? I know you haven't done anything at Fiona's in years for Christmas Eve since everyone is usually doing their own thing. I can bring the Christmas movies and rose`!"

_Shit. Is it Christmas Eve already?_ He thought to himself. He cleared his throat remembering all of the crazy shit that's happened to him in the last 24 hours, unable to tell his best friend. 

"Oh, um. I'm uh - I'm actually at Chris' house. But I'm sure they'd love to have you over, Jennifer. Actually, that's a great idea. Why don't you come over tonight? They pretty much do the same shit and it would be really nice to see you."

"Are you sure they won't mind? I mean, I'm kind of intruding aren't I?" She asked. Ian picked up the sadness in her voice and knew she needed to see him too.

"Absolutely. They'd love for you to come! I'll run it by Mandy when she wakes up. She'd be thrilled to have another girl in the house since she's staying here from out of town with a bunch of dudes." Ian said truthfully, having a feeling Mandy would actually be happy for more estrogen in the house.

"Really? Okay I'm excited! I'm bringing my Rudolph jammies too so don't judge."

Ian could hear her smiling through the phone which only made his heart happy. He chuckled, "Alright. Rudolph jammies it is. Do you remember the address?"

"Yup! Just text me when I should come over and to make sure they actually _do_ want me over."

"I will definitely text you. See you later!" 

He hung up the phone filling a bit better hearing from Jennifer. He did miss her and regretted ever getting so tied up in Chris' bullshit. He put the clothes that Chris left for him on. He felt that he looked like badass biker in the attire; black jeans, a black fitted t-shirt, and a black leather jacket to go with the the boots that Chris bad lent him. He couldn't help but chuckle to think how ridiculous he looked.

He went to look up in the mirror and noticed that it had been smashed, too exhausted to realize it last night. His brow furrowed and he gently put his hand up the the middle. He sensed it had been smashed out by Mickey, but he quickly brought his hand back down to his side when he was interrupted by knocking on the door. His heart dropped and stomach turned, not ready to deal with Chris' bullshit so early in the morning. He sighed and opened the door.

"Ho-ly fuck.." Mandy whispered, checking him out. Ian blushed thinking he looked ridiculous.

"You sure you're gay because... New clothes?" Mandy interrupted her own thoughts fantasizing over her brother's lover.

Ian laughed. "Um no. The whole get up belongs to Chris since I didn't bring clothes. Which reminds me. Would it be cool if my best friend comes over tonight? She's super lonely and needs me. She was the one who dated Jason before he...well you know."

Mandy's face lit up and she smiled. "Of course! Finally, another girl in the house. She's not annoying or anything, right?"

"Nope. I actually think you guys would be good friends."

Mandy nodded continuing to smile. Ian felt relief knowing Mandy was the only one he needed approval from to invite his friend over. 

Instantly the thoughts of the night before flooded over him and he felt sick to his stomach knowing that he would be going to Paco's in a few hours with Chris. He didn't know what was going to happen but he didn't want to think about it anymore. Mandy picked up on the distress his face was showing and she frowned. 

"Hey. It's gonna be okay. The plan is solid. Jimmy even texted me this morning to let me know our cars would be ready for nine this morning. He's fucking amazing with cars. Well, him and his crew. That's record time for a wreck like that." 

Ian nodded and moved his glance down, still feeling uneasy.

"Is he in his room?" Ian asked, Mandy understanding exactly which 'he' that Ian was referring to.

"No. I just checked. He never sleeps well or longer than a few hours every night. He usually gets up to go for a ride in his car so I'm not sure where he is exactly seeing how his car is still with Jimmy." Ian nodded. He mustered up a smile and headed down stairs as Mandy took his place in the bathroom.

He made it down the stairs and Mickey was no where to be found. Ian started to feel fear throughout his body, wondering where he could have possibly gone to without a car. Ian started walking to the kitchen when he heard a muffled noise coming from the basement door. He furrowed his brow and opened the door only to be greeted by a cloud of smoke. 

The basement wreaked of marijuana but Ian still slowly went down the stairs to find Mickey sitting on the coach that was down there and watching TV on the flat screen. He brought his bong up to his lips taking another rip and exhaling the thick smoke. 

"Mickey?" Ian questioned causing Mickey to jump up off the couch being startled. His pupils were dilated; eyes glassy and red. Ian glanced at the gash on his forehead and instantly felt sick. 

"The fuck do you want." Mickey questioned bluntly.

"I just wanted to apologize for last night. He made me-"

"I don't care anymore. It's whatever. Now go fuck off to Mandy or something while I finish this kush."

Ian furrowed his brow and anger set in. "You don't care? Is that why you drank to oblivion last night and woke up early to get stoned? I'm fucking sorry, Mick. Chris said he'd kill you, Mickey! Was I supposed to just let you die?"

Mickey sucked on the inside of his cheek and stared at the redhead. 

"Oh so you have nothing to say to me? You're just going to stare at me all day?"

Mickey sniffed and brought his hand up to his nose. "You ever smoke weed before?"

"Oh my - Christ! We're really not going to talk about this right now?" Ian asked furiously. 

"If you haven't before, you should definitely start. You seem like you need a hit or two." Mickey said evading Ian's questions. 

Ian through a hand up to his temple in frustration realizing this conversation was going no where. 

"Okay Mickey. You don't wanna talk? That's fine. But you can't deny the fact that you do care. You love me. And even if that scares you, it's the truth. All the drugs and alcohol in the world couldn't wish me away because I'm still fucking here fighting for you. Today things are going to change and I'll prove to you that I will never leave."

Mickey took in what Ian was saying though a hazy mind. Realization dawned on him. "Wait, today things are going to change how?"

"If you didn't try to defy inebriation last night you would know."

"Hey don't get fuckin snippy with me. You're the one who fucking smacked me in the face with a loaded gun, stole and wrecked my car, and then ran off into the night with that psychopath. So you don't get to be snippy with me."

"Mickey I'm sorry. I can't take it back now, but I only did it so he wouldn't shoot you. You've gotta believe me. I don't even know what I would do if I lost you.."

Mickey stared into Ian's sorrowful eyes and even if he wanted to be stubborn, he believed him. Ian sensed that the moment Mickey's face softened, looking down to the ground. He knew it was his chance to make a move. He slowly took a step closer to Mickey and brought a hand up to his cheek. Mickey's eyes filled with tears and he looked up at Ian, resting his own hand on top his lover's on his cheek.

"We came up with a plan last night. Mandy will explain everything but I've gotta go back up to make sure Chris isn't awake. I'll tell her to come down here to talk to you once I'm upstairs." 

Ian dropped his hand and gently pulled the bong away from Mickey's hand. He put it on the side table next to the couch and grabbed Mickey's hands to wrap them around his waist. As they were closer, Ian rested his forehead onto Mickey's and shut his eyes. 

"Mick, I'm so grateful that you saved me that night. I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you and I just... I want you to know that I owe you my entire life. I want to be yours and _only_ yours. Forever."

Mickey opened his eyes to look at Ian who was trembling. He pushed his lips on to Ian's tenderly. Mickey pulled away from the kiss to press his forehead back on to his lover's. He let out a small chuckle and Ian opened his eyes.

"What could possibly be so funny, Mick?"

"You know that before you, I've never kissed anyone. Ever. I've always just screwed and called it a day because I hate all of that intimate shit. Then your goofy ass comes along and that's all my instinct was telling me to do. Kissing you is so fucking contagious. It's just crazy what you do to me, Gallagher. You're the only one who could break me down like this in the best way possible. It's absolutely crazy and out of line for me, but I'm so fucking happy with you and fucking adore everything about you."

Ian smiled warmly and pressed another soft kiss to Mickey's lips. He pulled away just enough to have his lips barely touching Mickey's. "I could kiss you all day. You definitely don't seem like you've never kissed anyone before." Ian chuckled through his continuous kisses on his lover's lips. 

Mickey pulled away unexpectedly and looked into Ian's eyes. "I love you." He said, watching Ian melt in his arms.

"I love you too, Mickey."

The basement door opened and they quickly ripped apart from eachother, already missing their bubble that they had just been in. Heels clicked down the stairs to their relief as Mandy eventually appeared at the bottom of the stairs. She coughed from all of the smoke that filled the room.

"Jesus, guys. It's like seven in the morning. And you shouldn't be getting high right now we've got some serious shit to do today." She said walking over to the bong and bringing it to the cabinet across the room. 

"Ah, yes. Ian said you'd tell me about this plan you guys decided upon without me." Mickey said, stepping closer to Ian knowing he could in front of Mandy.

Mandy snickered. "Well you would have known last night if you didn't dredge yourself in Jack Daniels." Mickey flipped her off and she ignored it, beginning to relay the plan to her brother. 

As Mandy told her brother the whole story from last night including the plan, Mickey stood even closer to Ian in shock. He wanted to put a bullet through Chris' chest for making Ian do such morbid things. Ian slowly grabbed for Mickey's hand and Mickey squeezed the latter's hand tight. Mandy could see the rage in her brother's eyes.

"Don't worry, Mick. I really think this will work. Paco's gonna drop Chris for double crossing him, no doubt." Mandy said bluntly and he nodded. He turned his head to look at Ian.

"I'll fucking kill him, Ian. I swear. He's gonna wish he never laid eyes on you at the club. I'll be sure of that."

"Mick, no. You're not killing him. We need to stick to the plan! The guys should be up soon which means you need to go to Jose's." Mandy said.

"With what fuckin car? Speed racer over here wrecked it last night and yours is definitely totaled." Ian blushed and still felt shitty for ruining the car.

"I already told you that Jimmy said it will be ready and here for nine. If you need to leave sooner just take Iggy's beater."

Mickey looked at her with disgust. "I'm not driving a shitty beat up Buick. It doesn't even go fast!"

"Jesus you're such a crybaby. Take the damn Buick to protect your boyfriend."

"Boyfriend?" Both Ian and Mickey questioned at the same time. Mandy's face looked amused, "Oh, well what do you want me to refer to Ian as then? Your secret lover? Doesn't sound as good as boyfriend. Just saying."

"Christ." Mickey muttered as Ian laughed and shook his head. Mickey glanced at Ian, wishing he _was_ his boyfriend. He sighed and shook off his thoughts. 

"Let's go wake up the fuck heads and get this shit moving." 

Ian and Mandy smiled and nodded, starting to head towards the stairs. 

Chris quickly moved away from the top of the stairs and paced to the living room to turn on the TV. None of them were aware he was there the whole time.. Listening. He heard the entire plan from start to finish. His brain was going a million miles an hour contemplating killing Mickey and Ian as soon as they made it up the stairs. He decided against it and knew he also needed to make a plan of his own. He'd act normal until the time was right to strike.


	25. Change of Plans

"Morning everyone." Chris greeted from the living room couch, pretending to watch a re-run of the Ellen Show.

Mandy and Mickey rolled their eyes at him and walked toward the stairs to wake up their siblings. As Mandy made it to the top of the stairs, Mickey waited at the bottom to eaves drop on the two men in the living room. Ian walked over to the couch and sat down next to Chris. He glanced over at Ian's neck and narrowed his eyes.

"Babe, what's that on your neck? I haven't even gotten to touch you much lately." Chris asked, waiting for the redhead to spew bullshit. 

"Oh, um, definitely a rash. Sensitive skin. Ginger, remember?" He said nervously trying to cover the marks on his neck that Mickey left behind a few days ago.

Chris raised an eyebrow. "Oh, right." He said calmly. The man was oddly calm the entire time which truly frightened Ian being so used to his normal psychotic ways.

"There's a change in plans. We've gotta leave our phones behind. Just spoke with Paco and he said thems is the rules."

Ian's eyes widened knowing it would ruin part of their plain if he left his phone behind. He had to come up with something quick. 

"I really can't leave it. Fiona said that Liam is really sick and might need help so I'm like an on call nurse for them. They sort of rely on me for those types of things since I used to be an EMT last year but ended up hating it. It's actually kind of sweet really, how they think I'm basically a doctor when they're sick." Ian smiled thinking back to the memories. He was telling the truth about his old job and how his family did actually rely on him when anyone we sick or anything.

 

"How cute." Was all Chris could say as he turned his head back to the TV. Ian knew something wasn't right. He furrowed his brow until it dawned on him. _Mandy didn't shut the basement door and he was already down here which means... Fuck. he knows._

Ian had to think quick. He knew that it was time to turn the fucking heat up on the plan to tweak it a bit. He could sense Mickey's presence near him as the man was still sitting at the bottom of the stairs listening. Ian quickly and stealthily pulled out his phone while Chris had his eyes glued to the TV.

Ian (7:32AM): Don't listen. I love you and I will be yours very soon. Chris definitely knows. I need you to go up stairs and get Mandy so you guys can "accidentally walk in on us" in exactly five minutes. We have a small change of plans.

Mickey opened the message and lightly sighed just wanting to go in there and kill Chris himself. But he remembered what Mandy said and went up the stairs to follow what Ian asked for.

Ian put the phone in his pocket and went with his new plan. 

"You know that red looks so sexy on you, right? It's definitely your color." Ian flirted and put a hand on Chris' thigh. The man's face filled with confusion as he glanced down at his red shirt. Ian knew he had to push harder to make him believe that he was 'double crossing Mickey and Mandy'.

"I know you just said you haven't touched me in a while. Let's change that. Put your hands on me, Chris." Ian said as he moved closer, now straddling him. Ian wrapped his arms around the man's neck and Chris started looking at him with lustful eyes. 

"What's with the sudden change of heart?" Chris asked skeptically though Ian could feel his erection growing beneath him. 

"I just want you to know that I'm yours and no one else's."

The man's face went wild at what Ian said, Ian starting to fear the insanity in his eyes again. But he pushed even further. 

"Mickey's fucked if he ever actually believed I'd leave him for someome.. like you." Ian bit out internally gagging. 

"I knew it. I knew he couldn't take you away from me! I knew you actually love me and that Mickey would try to make me look bad so he could have you to himself!"

Ian mustered up a fake smile. He knew he had him now. He moved in closer just enough to leave a centimeter of space between their faces. He knew he had to push him just right over the edge so the enemy was locked down. 

"Mickey, who." He whispered. Chris was officially locked down. He pressed his lips to Ian's ferociously. Ian pushed back into him and opened his eyes to see Mickey and Mandy at the bottom of the stairs. Mickey looked away, not wanting to see it even if it was fake. Mandy walked in to the living room to follow Ian's plan.

"Jesus. That's what the bedroom is for."

Chris pushed Ian off of him and stood up. "Don't worry about it, Mandy. We were just leaving." He said as he grabbed Ian's hand to head to the front door.

"Isn't this earlier than we planned to go?" Ian asked trying to keep his voice level to keep up with this new plan.

"Yup. Let's get this shit over with so we can come back and fuck all day." 

Ian wanted to vomit again. The thought of fucking Chris made him feel literally ill.

"I just gotta take a piss. Start the car and get it ready for me." Ian said. Chris walked over to Ian and kissed him, eyes wide open and staring at Mickey knowing he was bothering him. Mickey looked to the side and balled his fists in rage. Chris was _really_ pushing his buttons now.

As Chris saw how angry he made Mickey, he pulled away from Ian and chuckled darkly. He headed outside to his Mercedes and started the car. Ian closed the door and whipped his head around to look at them. The other three Milkovich brothers came down the stairs as Ian spoke. 

"He fucking knows, guys. He heard us in the basement so I'm trying a new angle that looks like it's working. I'm making it seem like I'm playing you guys and he's eating that shit right up. I think we need to change our approach on it. We can't do what we originally planned."

"I think we need to end this fucker right now. He's too fuckin dangerous." Mickey said, a bit of insanity building in his eyes, though, rightfully so.

"I agree. No more fucking around." Tony said and looked to Ian. "You think that you could stall him from going to Paco's? Do you think you might be able to get him to go to Jose's?"

"I could definitely try. I need an alibi though."

"You want to prove your loyalty to them so you wanna get rid of me and discuss it over there." Mickey interrupted. Ian's eyes flashed to Mickey's with fear behind them. 

"What? No fucking way! That's way too crazy. I could never do that to you. Not again."

Mickey pushed through Mandy, not caring that all of his siblings eyes were on him. He put his hands on Ian's cheeks and stared into his eyes.

"Ian, I need you to do this for me. Do you trust me?"

Ian stated at him with deepened worry and remained silent. 

"Do you trust me?" Mickey repeated. Ian nodded and Mickey pushed his face to Ian's, giving him a soft kiss through tears. Mickey pulled away gently still holding Ian's face.

"I know this is crazy right now but just trust me. Get him to go to Jose's because you wanna talk about getting rid of me. We'll meet you there and ambush then unexpectedly. It'll be like killing two birds with one stone."

Ian only nodded, too choked up to say anything. Mickey softly smiled and spoke again. "I love you. Just trust me, okay?"

"I trust you, Mick."

Mickey let go of the redhead and let him compose himself before running out the door to the Mercedes. He watched through the window as they took off. 

"Think it'll work, Mick?" Tony asked as Mickey continued to stare out the window. 

"Absolutely." He turned around to look at his sister. "Mandy, call Jimmy. Ask if one of our cars are ready."

The world was starting to really get on their side as both of their cars pulled up into the drive way with a black Escalade behind them. Jimmy stepped out of the un-damaged looking Evo and Mandy flung the door open to run over to him. Her brothers watched her with confusion but shook it off, also joining her outside. Mickey grabbed his coat and threw on his boots before closing the door and jogging over to the crowd. 

"Jimmy! This is amazing how the hell did you do this? You're even an hour early!" Mandy asked, eyes filled with wonder and excitement.

"You texted me and told me how urgent it was so we stayed up literally all night and haven't stopped until they were finished. I'd do anything for you, Mandy." Jimmy said and she blushed. Iggy made a dramatic gagging sound and her brothers all laughed. She rolled her eyes and took the keys from Jimmy.

"Thanks. I'll repay you when we have time. We gotta run like now. But I'll text you when we're back. Maybe you could stay over tonight? We're watching Christmas movies and making cookies and food and shit." Mandy offered with flirty eyes. 

"That sounds great to me. I'll text you later, yeah?"

She nodded and batted her eye lashes. Mickey sighed and interrupted. "Jesus Mandy! You can suck his dick later we've gotta go! It's gonna be tight but we can all pile into my care since it's faster than yours, Mands."

She rolled her eyes and wiggled her fingers goodbye to Jimmy before going to the passenger side. Jimmy and his crew got into the Escalade and sped off.

"Why do you get to sit in the front?" Iggy complained. 

"Because I fucking said so! Fuck off." She shot back to her brother. He sighed and squeezed into the back, fitting in like a can if sardines.

"Everyone have the safety on right now on your guns? I don't need someone accidentally shooting anyone back there since you're all fuckin packed in together." Mickey asked looking at them through the window. They all groaned and nodded. Mickey smiled at them mockingly as he waked himself over to the driver seat. He got in and adjusted his mirror. He put on his sunglasses and revved his engine, relishing in the loud sound it made.

"Let's end this fucker." Mandy said and Mickey released from the break taking off down the road, turbo whooshing.


	26. Wreak Havoc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song:
> 
> Wreak Havoc by Skylar Grey

Ian felt like the stoplight to get on to the highway was taking forever. He was nervously rubbing his thumb against his leather jacket, feeling uneasy about the new plan he now needed to go with. He took a deep breath and finally spoke. 

"I think we should go to Jose's first. I've got a proposition for him to get him off your back."

Chris looked at Ian as the light was still red. He chuckled darkly. "Oh yeah? And what's that?"

Ian tried his best to match the sociopathic tendencies that Chris had. He looked him in the eyes without any emotion on his face. "We kill Mickey. Eye for an eye, right?"

Ian felt the world crashing around him as the words came out of his own mouth. He wanted to jump out of the car but knew he couldn't. Chris raised an eyebrow.

"You'd do that for me, babe?"

Ian swallowed down the dry lump in his throat. "Of course. Let's go."

Chris smiled deviously and gunned it on to the highway as soon as the light turned green. The black Evo soon approached the same light stopping as it turned red. Mickey made sure to keep enough distance between him and the Mercedes. Though, he didn't suspect Chris to think it was him as his car was completely wrecked last night. If he could, he wanted to give Jimmy a million bucks for helping him out so quickly. He turned to Mandy when she looked down at her phone. 

"Guys! He bought it. Chris is taking them to Jose's right now!" She said reading the quick message she got from Ian. 

"Thank Christ. This shit is giving me anxiety." Tony said. 

Mickey sighed in relief knowing he was one step closer to Ian. To his forever. 

********************************

Chris pulled up to Jose's, Doug waiting outside for them. Jose had been expecting them as Chris called a few minutes prior to tell him he needed to discuss _business_ in person. They got out of the car and walked over to Doug who let them in. Jose was sitting at his table eating a plate of scrambled eggs. Ian's stomach grumbled as he realized he never ate breakfast. Jose remained looking down at his food while he ate. Doug motioned them to sit down at the table and the two of them obliged.

"So, what brings you guys here so early?" Jose asked, now looking at his watch to see the time read 8:30 am.

"Ian's got a proposition for you." Chris said bluntly and shot Ian a dark look.

"I'm listening." Jose said sounding very uninterested and still looking down. 

Ian put all of his focus on Jose and spoke. "I can give you something that you might want, only if you promise to end the deal with Chris and let him off the hook."

Jose dropped his fork onto the plate and looked up at Ian. "Go on."

"I- I can give you Mickey. He-"

"I want his fucking head right on this plate. You give me his head and I'll let Chris walk away like nothing ever happened. I've always hated that cocky son of a bitch."

Ian's vision started to tunnel as Jose spoke of decapitating Mickey. He felt sick to his stomach but pulled himself together to make sure Jose didn't pick up on his sudden change of demeanor.

"We'll bring him to you." Ian confirmed, seeing Chris smiling like the piece of shit that he was.

"I had doubts about you, Gallagher. But you really just proved yourself here. I told you last night that your first time is difficult but look at you now, only hours later. You're ready to kill for Chris. You really are proving yourself. But promises mean nothing to me. Only actions speak. So follow through. I want him here. Tonight."

Ian swallowed again, wondering where the fuck the others were to get this shit over with already. 

********************************

"Fucking shit this light takes forever! I feel some grays starting to grow in my hair already!" Joey yelled in the back still at that same goddamn stoplight entering the highway. 

"Will you shut up? Jesus! And Iggy your bony ass is digging into my leg!" Tony yelled.

"Sorry that we all can't look like the fucking Rock, Tone!" Iggy yelled back. Tony shoved Iggy who bounced into Joey. The three of them began to shove and kick eachother. It was Milkovich mayhem in the back seat and Mandy turned around to yell at her brothers. Before she could say anything to the man-children in the back, the light turned green and Mickey stomped on the gas. They all fell back into their seats as the force from the turbo flung the car forward. 

Mickey looked in his rearview mirror and laughed at them, all groaning from knocking into one another unexpectedly. "That's what you idiots get." Mickey said as he continued to speed down the highway.

He gripped the steering wheel feeling anxious to get there already. Mandy shot her brother a glare. 

"Jesus, Mick. It may not be snowing but we could still slip on ice or something if you keep driving like Vin fucking Diesel." She said, hanging on to her seat feeling nervous that they might spin out. 

"Bitch, Vin ain't got nothin on me." He retorted and pushed down on the gas further. 

The exit was approaching and he cut hard into the turn drifting down the off-ramp. 

"I hate it when he does this!" Iggy yelled hanging on to whatever he could as Mickey laughed at them. Snow was flying up off the ground from the tires digging into the ground. The Evo safely made it off the ramp and he came to a stop to hit the next light. 

"Never. Fucking. Do that. Again!" Mandy scolded and Mickey smirked. He would _so_ do that again.

The light turned green and off they went nearing Jose's house that was behind a gas station. Mickey parked at the gas station as the house was in clear sight and didn't want them to hear his roaring exhaust. 

"Everyone ready?" Mickey asked.

"So what, we just go in there and shoot?" Joey asked.

"We just go in there and shoot." Mickey confirmed. Mandy texted Ian to tell him to sit on the couch to the far right, hoping he'd get it in time before the Milkoviches got to Jose's. 

*******************************

"Who was that, babe?" Chris asked as he heard Ian's phone buzz. Ian reached for his phone.

"Put the phone down, please." Jose said before Ian could pull it out of his pocket. He furrowed his brow and Chris looked at Jose in confusion. Jose looked out the front window and no longer saw Doug. He instantly stood up and pulled out his gun.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Chris asked standing up and walking infront of Ian to protect him.

Jose walked towards the door slowly. 

"Hello? You fuckin hear me?" Chris repeated. Jose ignored him and looked through the peephole to see the man's very bloody, very dead body on the front steps.

"Fuck." Jose muttered. Ian and Chris approached him and Jose spun around. "We're not alone." He said. Ian felt relief as he already knew the unexpected company was his lover.

*******************************

"Ian never answered." Mandy whispered to Mickey as they made it behind the house heading to a window to break in as quickly and quietly as possible. Mickey wiped the bloody blade from his knife on the cloth he had and put it back in the small holster on his side. He sniffed and looked at Mandy. 

"We've gotta be extra fucking careful then. Anyone shoots a tall goofy-ass redhead on accident then you're gonna end up like our pal Dougie back there."

His brothers nodded and Tony lifted Mandy slowly to the window. She was able to open it quietly and slipped inside. She peeped her head out. 

"I only want Mick and Tone up here. You two dumbasses are gonna be on lookout duty. Anything happens you fucking call me. Got it?" She whispered and they nodded. 

Tony lifted Mickey up and Mandy pulled him in through the window. It took both Iggy and Joey to lift their massive brother up to the window, but Mandy and Mickey were able to quietly get him inside. As Tony stood up, he pulled the assault rifle from his back holster and got it ready. Mickey and Mandy followed suit getting their weapons ready as they decided to move forward, now inside the house.

_One step closer to my forever.._

**********************************

" _You._ You fuckin did this, didn't you?" Jose said pointing at Ian. 

"I was in here the whole time with you guys how could I possibly have done this?" Ian quickly retorted.

"Don't get smart with me. You know exactly what I mean." Jose said, realization striking and figuring out what was happening. He looked at Chris with frantic eyes. "Your whore set us up!"

Chris spun around to look at Ian. If looks could kill..

"You piece of shit!" Chris yelled and charged at Ian like a wild animal. Ian backed up and stepped to the side letting Chris stumble over the chair. Ian gunned it down the hallway as Chris was on the ground and Jose started blindly shooting in his direction. Ian yelled in agony when Jose got him in the leg. He limped as fast as he could to the first door he saw and opened it, seeing it was a basment. He quickly shut the door behind him and rolled down the stairs as his leg gave out. He smacked his head on the cemented floor and lost his vision for a moment. 

His eyes fluttered open, feeling dizziness and pain from the fall. He did his best to snap out of it and got up to hide in the laundry room that connected to the side of the basement.

Ian crouched behind the water heater next to the dryer and waited hoping Mickey would hurry the fuck up.

***********************************

"Fuck, that was gunshots." Tony whispered.

Mickey pushed through him feeling pure rage. He pulled out his gun and started towards the door seeing only red in his vision. As soon as he kicked the door open, Jose started shooting in his direction. Mandy and Tony got down but Mickey didn't even flinch. He charged towards Jose, managing to dodge getting shot. He almost felt possessed by something as he kept moving with anger and insanity in his eyes.

As Mickey stood directly in front of the man, Jose pulled the trigger. Mickey closed his eyes, bracing himself as he stopped dead in his tracks. He slowly opened his eyes when all he heard was the clicking sound of an empty round. He smiled darkly and smacked the gun out of Jose's hand. Jose tried to run away and Mickey grabbed the back of his shirt, pulling him backward with all of his strength. He sent the man right into the wall in the hallway, cracking the drywall and body collapsing to the floor.

Mickey pulled out his glock as Jose started to crawl backwards. "Fuck..God. Please.." Jose started to beg and Mickey stomped down on his leg, feeling bones crushing beneath his boot. Jose screamed in pain and Mickey chuckled darkly. He cracked his neck and looked down at jose with disgust. He crouched down next to Jose and grabbed a fist full of his hair, pulling his face close to his own. 

"God can't save you now." Mickey whispered as he pushed the gun against Jose's chest and began to open his fire into the man until the body was limp.

Mandy and Tony slowly walked towards their brother, not recognizing who had taken over his body to become so relentless. 

"Jesus Mick.. that was-"

"Dude you were like the fucking terminator right there! Shit that was awesome." Tony interrupted his sister. She shot him an unamused look. 

Mickey ignored them and spit on Jose's corpse. He looked up at his siblings. "Where's Ian." 

"I'm not sure." Mandy answered. 

Mickey's eyes widened, the piercing blues filled with fury. "Fucking find him! Leave Chris to me. I wanna watch him fucking suffer. He's not going to get _any_ fucking mercy. He's gonna wish that he was already dead when I get to him." 

Mandy felt a chill run down her spine. Her brother was scaring the shit out of her. He paced down the hall trying to listen for any sounds of the redhead or Chris. He heard nothing. He kicked open a locked door beside him only to find an empty bedroom. He started to look around just in case. 

"Hey Mick.." Tony called out. Mickey barged out of the room to follow his brother's voice. He saw Tony and Mandy past the hallway near the main entrance of the house. They were both gazing down where Mickey was standing. He followed their gaze to the ground and saw blood. He turned around to see a blood trail to another closed door.

He looked up at Mandy and Tony slowly, expression completely wiped from his face. He started to grind his teeth and his siblings walked toward him. "Let's fucking go." Mickey muttered through his gritted teeth and opened the door.


	27. Hang On

"Ian?" Mandy whispered, looking around the basement. The redhead wasn't in sight. Mickey flipped the table over in anger. He started kicking the couch and breaking things in a fit of rage. 

Mandy walked over to Tony and held his arm, feeling scared for her Mickey. He was entering a dark place that she'd hope to never see again once this was over. Mickey stopped his kicking and panted heavily. 

"Mandy, you go up stairs with Tone and get Ig and Joey. Make sure they didn't see them leave or something. I want you guys to do a sweep of the house. I'm staying down here to look around. Yell if you find him. And again, you fucking leave Chris to me."

His siblings nodded and headed up the stairs. He brought his hand up to his nose and tried to think. He looked around the room and noticed another room off to the side. It was pitch black and be didn't see a light switch. He pulled out his phone and used the flashlight to look around. He was a washer and moved the light slowly to the right. He saw a dryer and kept going until he nearly screamed at the sight infront of him. 

"Peek a boo." Chris said looking like he had completely lost his mind. He was crouching down and had one hand over Ian's mouth and the other hand pointing a gun to Ian's head. Mickey saw the blood on Ian and instantly held his gun up to Chris. 

"Let him _fucking_ go." Mickey said.

Chris slowly stood up, pulling Ian up with him. "Oh, Mick. This is really just a bummer."

"What is?" Mickey asked and watched Chris draw a wicked smile.

"This!" He yelled, bringing his gun down forcefully on to Ian's head causing him to drop to the floor like a rag doll. 

Mickey lunged forward to Ian and Chris aimed the gun to Mickey. 

"Uh uh. I don't think so." Chris muttered and aimed the gun back to Ian's currently unconscious body. 

Mickey glared at him with rage. He decided to push his buttons to get his attention off of Ian. "You really thought he loved you? I mean you truly believed that he loved you?"

Chris remained aiming the gun at Ian but snapped his neck up to look at Mickey. "You shut your fucking mouth you piece of Southside trash!" Chris yelled, spit flying out of his mouth. 

"He never loved you, silly. He was too busy sucking my dick to even think about yours." Mickey pushed. Chris curled his lip up, insane rage also in his eyes. Mickey pressed even more.

"He felt pretty good inside me when we were fucking the other night, too. And to think, you were right upstairs getting distracted by my brothers while he pounded me in the garage. Felt so fucking good."

Chris screamed at the top of his lungs. He lunged forward at Mickey, full speed, and knocked him to the ground and his gun sliding across the floor. Chris' gun dropped out of his hand too and Mickey quickly tried to reach for it. Chris rolled on top of him and punched his head hard to disorient him so that he couldn't crawl closer to grab the gun.

Mickey swung upward to try and uppercut him, but Chris caught his arm. He sat up on top of Mickey to straddle him. He wrapped his large hands around Mickey's neck and squeezed. Mickey started to choke and couldn't breathe. He was flailing and convulsing until suddenly, starting to lose his vision. Mickey suddenly remembered the knife in his holster. He pulled it out and stabbed Chris in the leg, causing him to roll off of Mickey and let him go.

Mickey gasped for air and began to cough as he slowly stood back up. Chris stood up and pulled the knife out of his leg, dropping it on to the floor.

"You fucking Milkoviches and your damn knives!" He gritted through his teeth. Before Mickey snapped out of his coughing fit, Chris grabbed his gun and pointed it back at Mickey. 

"I'm really not going to miss you, Mick. You were such a little pussy. Too scared to even admit you were gay to me. Say hi to Terry for me, you cock sucker."

He put his finger on the trigger, Mickey closing his eyes and holding out his hand for one last chance of protection. He looked up when a sound of movement came from behind Chris. Chris stood still as Ian had Mickey's gun pressed into the back of Chris' head. Ian's vision was blurred and he swayed a bit from the damage he had already endured. He had blood all over his face, but he was ready to blow the man's brains out on to the cemented floor. 

"You sure you wanna do that?" Chris asked, body stiff as a board. 

"You piece of shit." Ian slurred out and pulled the trigger. Nothing but a clicking sound came out. He pulled it again. _Click. Click_ "Oh fuck.." Ian whispered as Chris turned around and kicked Ian in the chest sending him backwards into the wall and dropping to the ground. Ian tried to open his eyes only to see faded silhouettes. He shut his eyes letting the pain and darkness take over.

Mickey ran right into Chris full force and knocked him on to the ground as well. Chris was vice gripping the gun so he grabbed the bloody knife and walked over to him as he laid on the ground. He kicked the gun out of Chris' hand and dropped down to his knees next to him to stab into his abdomen. Chris screamed in agony and Mickey stabbed him again. And again.

Suddenly he heard footsteps coming down the basement stairs and he looked behind him. Chris managed to kick Mickey over and reached for the gun. He had both hands on it this time and went to aim at Mickey. He looked up at Mickey through psychotic eyes and cocked the gun.

Mickey shut his eyes tight and whispered, "Ian, I love you." A gun shot went off and Mickey slowly opened his eyes realizing it didn't hit him. When his eyes fully opened he saw Chris laying on his back, face still looking mentally insane, with a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. He turned his body around to see Mandy still holding up her gun and shaking. She dropped the gun but remained motionless. 

Mickey slowly got up and walked toward his sister, hugging her. She brought her arms around him, not being able to remember the last time he hugged her. Mickey opened his eyes to see Ian still unconscious on the ground. He released from Mandy and sprinted over to Ian. 

"Mandy call an ambulance!" She pulled out her phone to dial 911 and her brothers ran down the stairs. They froze, eyes widened, to see Chris' dead body. Tony ran over to Mickey to help.

"He's losing blood, Mick!" Tony yelled trying to apply pressure to Ian's leg while Mickey tried to stop the blood from draining out of his head. 

Ian fluttered his eyes open and started to look at Mickey. 

"M-Mick?"

"Shh. Just relax okay? You're gonna be okay, Ian. Ambulance is on the way." Mickey wasn't sure if he was trying to assure his lover or himself. 

"B-But I'm s-so cold." Ian choked out. Mickey frantically tried to wrap his arms around him when he noticed more blood underneath him.

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck!" Mickey yelled when he noticed Ian had been deeply punctured by the sharp, pointed hanger protruding from the wall above them. It must have happened when Chris kicked him into the wall Mickey thought. A small puddle of blood started to form underneath him. Tony tried to reach under him to hinder the bleeding.

"You fucking hang on, Gallagher. You hear me? You hang on." Mickey ordered, voice cracking. 

Ian brought his hand up to Mickey's cheek and smiled with bloody lips. "S-So warm."

Mickey let out a small sob, "Yeah. And you will be soon, too. The ambulance is on the way okay? Just keep fighting, Ian."

Ian closed his eyes and nodded. He stopped moving and Mickey began to sob. His brothers and Mandy walked closer around them. Tony put his head up to Ian's chest and then to his mouth. 

"He's still breathing, Mick!"

Mickey ignored him and continued to sob. Mandy looked at her brother as a tear rolled down her cheek. 

Five minutes later they heard the sirens and Tony ran up the stairs to lead them down to Ian. The EMTs came barreling down the stairs with the stretcher and got him on while the police investigated the bloodbath in Jose's house. 

Mickey handed Mandy his keys to the Evo and ran after the EMTs. He got into the ambulance with Ian, holding on to his hand. He looked up at the female EMT who was checking Ian.

"He's gonna be okay, right?"

She ignored him, not wanting to make any promises that she couldn't keep. 

The ride to the hospital was short and they rushed Ian inside to ICU. His siblings were already there. Mandy drove the Evo and was waiting in the lobby. She followed Mickey as he ran to the ICU. They didn't allow them in but they waited oitside the door. Mickey didn't care how long it would take; he vowed to wait no matter what. He slid down to sit and Mandy followed suit. She wrapped her arm around her brother and let him cry into her shoulder. She would wait as long as he did, supporting her brother.

*****************************

There hours had passed by and they fell asleep in the lobby. A nurse came over to wake them and Mickey immediately stood up. 

"Mikhailo Milkovich?" She questioned looking at the frantic man infront of her. 

"Yeah. It's uh Mickey. That's my full name I signed in with I guess I forgot."

The nurse smiled lightly. "Well, Mickey. Ian Gallagher is going to be just fine. He needed a blood transfusion as he lost a lot of it, but we were able to stitch him up and now he's resting. He will actually be free to go in about two hours. I'll come back and get you when he's ready to go. He needs to stay in bed for the next few days to heal. No vigorous movements just relaxation. Now, who are you to the patient?"

"His lover." Mickey answered immediately. Mandy smiled warmly and rubbed his arm feeling proud and happy for him. The nurse smiled and nodded, jotting words down on her note pad. She walked away and they went back to the lobby to wait. Mickey looked down at his phone to see it was only four in the afternoon. He felt a heavy weight lifted off of his shoulders when he realized he'd be going to a home without Chris. He'd be going home soon and spending Christmas Eve with Ian. His _forever._


	28. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

It had to be roughly seven o'clock at night by the time Mandy pulled the Evo in to the driveway as ian and Ian and Mickey sat in the back. The sky was dark, but started to snowflakes lightly come down. The air was freezing, so Mickey naturally took off his coat to wrap it around Ian before lifting him up out of his seat and carrying him to the front door. Mandy's heart melted at how loving her brother was to the redhead. She smiled at the sight and paced over to the door to open it for them. 

Once inside, Mickey gently put Ian down on to the couch in the living room and started the fire place.  
Mandy headed in to the kitchen to start cooking up some appetizers like she usually did for Christmas Eve.

Her phone buzzed and she looked down at it to see Tony and her brothers were on the way back from questioning. The police had questioned all of them, though, more focused on how two of Chicago's top gang members were finally off the streets for good. Luckily, the cops didn't recognize any of the Milkoviches or Ian, so they bought the whole 'I killed them out of self defense' story. Which wasn't entirely a lie. 

Although they were all criminals, their records had some how always been cleared whether it be because one of Paco's genius men hacking the system or just mainly because they never got caught. The only time a Milkovich really appeared on their records was back when Terry was still alive causing a cycle of one to report him. Or get arrested for fighting with him in public. Or when he would violate probation and one of them was taken in for questioning... The list goes on. 

Mandy walked in to the living room to see that Mickey had turned on the TV that was playing his favorite Christmas movie, The Grinch. Mickey loved the cartoon version as well, but the Jim Carrey version was his favorite. 

"Tone and the boys are on the way back. Said the cops bought their story and let them go." Mandy said, looking at her brother who had Ian leaned up against him. He nodded and looked back to the TV  
Mandy shook her head knowing this had to be at least the billionth time he'd seen this movie. She went back into the kitchen and remembered to call Jimmy and tell him to come over. 

While she spoke to Jimmy and giggled flirtatiously, Mickey turned up the volume on the TV a bit to drown her out. Ian chuckled and slowly looked up at Mickey to give him a smile. Mickey lowered his head down to give Ian a soft and gentle kiss. He pulled away and started caressing a hand through Ian's hair. 

"Thank you for always being my hero, Mick." Ian whispered, still feeling weak but healing. He looked up on the screen to see Cindy Lou Who in her room singing _Where are you Christmas?_

Mickey pulled him gently closer, Ian able to hear Mickey's heart beat against his chest. Ian felt so right being with the man. The beat of his heart grounding him and making him feel safe. He'd never experienced anything like the way Mickey made him feel. Before him, he didn't even want to date anyone ever. He just wanted one night stands from randoms that he'd meet at the club. His whole world changed the night that Mickey pulled him back from that bridge. 

"I wish I could have saved you from getting shot and fuckin hurt by that scumbag. May he never, ever, rest in peace."

Ian rolled his head back up to look at Mickey again. "But you saved my life, Mickey. Getting hurt isn't as bad as not making it out alive."

Mickey tightened his grip on Ian a bit before speaking. "I don't even know what I would have done if you didn't..." He trailed off holding back tears. Ian slowly attempted to sit up, though in pain, and wrapped his arms around Mickey. 

"I did, though. Don't even think about if I didn't. I'm here now and I just love you so much. I don't even care how crazy this is; I've never fallen for anyone so quickly in my life. Or actually, I've never really fallen in love before. But you bring the best out in me and I want more. I always want more with you. Now that _he's_ dead, I get to finally explore that feeling. Explore us." Ian said, slowly pulling back from Mickey to look at him. 

He mustered up a goofy grin. "You're my ride or die, Clyde."

Mickey bursted out into laughter and flipped him off. He gently pulled the redhead back on to him to rest.

"I forgot to let you know this morning seeing how we were too busy trying to scheme against a psychopath. But I told Jennifer she could come over. She was really lonely and Christmas Eve has kind of been our thing. Mandy was all for it, too."

"I'll text her. I'm sure Mandy will be excited to have another girl in the house. Although by the sounds of her conversation in the kitchen, she may be a bit preoccupied tonight." Mickey chuckled as he pulled out his phone and texted her to come over. He left it on the coffee table in front of them and adjusted himself back in to the couch to get comfortable. 

"We can't tell my sister about any of this. She'd freak, first of all. Secondly, she would think you're a bad influence."

Mickey raised an eyebrow. "Oh, _I'm_ a bad influence? Says the guy who always tried to get in my pants nearly rooms away from your psychotic ex." Mickey chuckled. 

"The thought of almost getting caught really turned me on."

Mickey shook his head. "You're such a weirdo, Pumpkin Patch."

"First of all, you love it. Second of all, _never_ call me that again. Christ." Ian chuckled. Mickey reached his arms around Ian as they continued to watch the movie, fire place roaring and snow coming down. It was a perfect night.

*******************************

Jennifer knocked on the front door and waited. The snow started to pick up as well as the wind. She had been wearing a nice red cardigan sweater with black leggings and black high heeled boots, of course holding the bag that had her Rudolph jammies inside of it.

Tony answered the door in mid-laughter from the joking going on inside and instantly stopped. "Uh.. um hello. Can I help you?" He asked nervously feeling very attracted to her.

"Is Ian inside? This was supposed to be the right place." She said looking around the house trying to remember if she was actually at the right place or not. Tony continued to stare at her like an idiot and Mandy pushed him aside.

"Jesus. He doesn't usually drool like that. I'm Mandy by the way. Jennifer, right?" She asked, smiling at her soon-to-be new friend. Jennifer chuckled and nodded. Mandy moved to the side to let her inside. The house smelled wonderful with all of the food cooking and the cookies baking. Jennifer looked inside of the beautiful home marveling its entirety. 

"Shit, you have a beautiful home." 

Mandy snorted. "I don't live here I'm only over for the occasion. I live down by South Trumbull Ave."

Jennifer's eyes lit up. "No fucking way! Me too."

Mandy laughed and took her to the kitchen to get her a glass of wine while Tony followed them, eyes set on Jennifer.

She took a sip of the wine and looked around, still in awe of the beauty inside of the house. She then furrowed her brow and looked to Mandy. 

"Where's Ian?"

Mandy suddenly remembered that Jennifer probably had no idea about Ian and her brother or about the death of Chris or really any of it. She ignored her thoughts, letting Ian decide what he wanted to tell her. Mandy brought her into the living room where the rest of her brothers were along with Ian all watching the Christmas movie. Jennifer's eyes widened at the sight of a beat up, bandaged Ian cuddling Mickey. Ian looked over in her direction after hearing her gasp.

"Hey Jennifer." Ian tried to muster up energy the best he could. It soon diminished when the pain was too much. He winced and laid back down.

"Want me to get you more pain meds?" Mickey asked. Ian nodded and he slowly removed himself from underneath Ian. He looked at his brothers. "Ay. Let's give them some privacy for a minute."

"But Mick! We were getting to the good part! We've gotta see the Holiday Cheermeister!" Iggy complained referring to The Grinch that was still on. 

Mickey brought a hand up to his forehead and couldn't hold in the laughter. "Jesus, Ig. Come on guys, let's go."

The Milkoviches fled from the living room to give Jennifer and Ian some time alone. She put the glass of wine down and sat next to Ian with wide eyes.

"Please tell me what the fuck is going on." She whispered feeling concerned. "And where is Chris?"

Ian sighed heavily as he was slowly able to sit himself up. "We broke up." Ian said bluntly. He wasn't completely lying. 

"What happened?"

"Chris and I got into a huge fight. He roughed me up a bit but I'm okay. We uh broke up after that and he left the house and said he was never coming back. He was honestly just crazy so who even knows what happened." Ian lied looking at the TV to help maintain his poker face. 

"Thank Christ. I'm glad you're okay. I really didn't like you with that basket case, anyway. So! Now you're with Mickey?" She said, eyes lighting back up.

Ian smiled, "Yes, per say. He hasn't really made anything official yet but I'm definitely with Mickey now." 

Jennifer screeched in excitement.

"I'm so fucking happy for you, love! Speaking of happy, Mickey's brother is kind of cute. He's been checking me out since I got here." Ian shook his head and laughed, continuing to catch up with his best friend. He knew not to tell her anything that would lead her to believe the Milkoviches were criminals. So he made sure to tell his stories carefully. 

Mickey had been eaves dropping behind the wall. He sniffed and replayed in his mind what Ian had said. _"He hasn't made anything official yet..."_ Mickey grinned as he suddenly got an idea. He walked over to Mandy and said, "I need your help with something. I'm making Ian a last minute surprise Christmas gift."

Mandy grinned with excitement and followed her brother to the stairs. The doorbell rang and they stopped. She answered the door to see Jimmy outside covered in snow and holding up roses to her. Her eyes lit up and she took them, wrapping her arms around him. Mickey rolled his eyes.

"Ay! You two can get romantic as fuck later on. I need help with something here." 

Mandy rolled her eyes and sighed. She pulled away from Jimmy's embrace and told him to wait with her brothers.

"Help yourself to whatever you want. I made a bunch of food and shit in the kitchen. I shouldn't be too long." She said to Jimmy, giving him a smile and headed up the stairs with her brother to help with whatever crazy idea he cooked up.


	29. Winter Wonderland

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Song:
> 
> Lullaby by The Spill Canvas

Mickey ran down the stairs out of breath and bolted in to the garage without saying a word to anyone. Jimmy furrowed his brow and looked over to Tony who also had a similar look on his face. Tony downed his beer and put down the empty bottle on to the kitchen island. 

"Fuck if I know." Tony said to Jimmy and headed into the living room to hit on Jennifer.

Mickey barged through the door holding a large box, kicking the door shut behind him as he bolted to the stairs. The men shrugged and joined Tony into the living room. 

"Where's Chris?" Jimmy asked noticing his presence was _thankfully_ absent. 

"He died." Iggy said as Ian said "He moved." at the same time. Ian and Tony shot Iggy a glared.

"Um.. alright then. 'Need-to-know' Milkovich shit?" Jimmy asked remembering every time he'd ask a question either Mickey or Tony would answer 'It's on a need-to-know basis and he doesn't need to know.'

"And.." Tony started, giving him a sarcastic smile.

"And I don't need to know. Got it." Jimmy said sounding defeated as the others chuckled at him. Jennifer looked at Ian, reading between the lines, and leaned in close.

"Did... Did you guys kill Chris? Or did he really move?" She whispered. Ian smiled softly before answering. 

"It's on a need-to-know basis and you _really_ don't even wanna know. Trust me please."

She nodded and dropped it for now. She felt eyes on her and she turned her head to across the room to find Tony staring at her. He wiggled his eyebrows at her and she laughed, shaking her head. He stood up and nodded his head to the side, indicating he wanted to leave the room with her. She grinned and stood up to follow him out. Ian chuckled and Iggy yelled, "Yo, Tone! Make sure you wrap it before you tap it!"

Tony glared back to Iggy. "Next time you say stupid shit like that, I'm going to knock your teeth out." Iggy immeditaly stopped laughing and nodded nervously. Ian laughed, loving being with everyone and not having to worry about Chris. He looked around the room suddenly feeling a small piece of his happiness missing. _Where is Mickey?_ He thought. 

******************************

"Oh my _fucking_ Jesus, Mary and Joseph. You are the cutest human being ever, Mick. Ian's going to love it!" Mandy exclaimed with excitement and Mickey blushed. 

"Think it's too much?"

"I think it's perfect. Who the hell gave you the creativity genetics because it sure as hell wasn't Terry and mom's daily pill popping isn't considered creative either."

Mickey chuckled lightly. He and his siblings hadn't seen their mom in years. She escaped Terry's abusive ass well-before he passed but she never came back for her kids. They also weren't too interested in finding her either as she wasn't the best mom.

"Can you have Jennifer come look, too? I just want this to be perfect."

Mandy smiled and nodded, she opened the door and stepped out, closing it behind her. Mickey looked at his small creation and hoped it would be enough. 

Mandy started down the stairs and stopped abruptly to find her brother making out with Jennifer at the bottom of the stairs. Mandy cleared her throat loudly and she instantly pushed Tony off.

"Oh, um, hey Mandy. I was just looking for my.. well he was helping me.." She stumbled on her words feeling embarassed as Tony looked up at Mandy discreetly gesturing at Jennifer and mouthing the words, 'she's so hot'. Mandy chuckled and stepped down to the bottom to grab Jennifer's hand.

"I don't care if you wanna suck face with my annoying brother. I need to show you something, though." Mandy said and Jennifer went up the stairs,Tony following behind. Mandy made it to Mickey's door and stopped to turn aroind and face Tony. 

"Sorry. No bone-heads allowed." 

"What, are you guys doing some sort of lame secret society bullshit in there?" Tony retorted. Mandy sighed. 

"Promise not to be an asshole?"

"Jesus, I promise." 

Mandy nodded and opened the door. Jennifer's jaw dropped nearly to the floor. She brought her hand up to cover her mouth. She glanced over at Mickey standing nervously in the corner of the room.

"Oh my God... This is for Ian?" She asked and Mickey nodded. She let out a giggle. "This is perfect. Christ, you're perfect. Why the fuck can't I have a guy like this?" She nudged to Mandy. 

Tony looked over to his brother. "Did good, Mick. Need help getting him up here?"

"Nah, I wanna carry him up. Be romantic and shit. Jesus I feel like this is so lame." Mickey said nervously.

"Not lame. No other words than amazing. This is amazing." Jennifer said, warmly smiling at her best friend's lover. He nodded.

"Wait til you guys hear what he plans to do! I literally fucking died." Mandy said making Mickey blush even more. 

"Jesus, I don't wanna know about his sexual endeavours with Gingerbread!" Tony yelled mortified and Mandy glared at him. 

"Well, I for one, would like to hear about his plans." Mandy grinned and began to tell her about Mickey's plan.

*******************************

Ian had looked at his phone and it was almost nine o'clock. He sighed, and went back to watching Christmas Vacation with Iggy, Joey and Jimmy. He took a cookie off the tray and slowly bit in to it. He heard Jennifer's contagious laughter coming from the other room and he looked up. She walked into the living room with Mandy and Tony. Jennifer couldn't stop smiling at Ian and he looked back at her in confusion. 

"What's the the shit-eating grin?" Ian asked and Jennifer dramatically shrugged and said, "I don't know.." sounding like she definitely knew. 

Mandy's phone went off and she looked down at the text, also grinning. 

"Alright losers, let's go outside. It's snowing pretty hard so we definitely need to have our traditional Milkovich snow ball fight." Mandy said and her brothers got up without a word to grab their coats. 

She looked at Tony and Jennifer with confusion. "Well that was easier than I was planning." 

She and Tony left the room to grab their coats as well. Jennifer stood up and smiled at Ian. 

"I love you. You know that, right?" 

Ian smiled back. "Course I do. Love you too, Jennifer."

She kissed him on the cheek and ran out to also grab her cost and catch up with the other Milkoviches outside. Ian heard the door shut and he sighed. _Maybe Mickey fell asleep.._ He thought. 

Ian slowly brought his head up to look at the door, wishing he could be out there with them. He loved the days when he was little and would play in the snow with his siblings. He finally made his gaze towards the door only to find Mickey standing in front of it. He was dressed in an all black suit, dress shirt red underneath his vest to match the holiday. He gazed at Ian with nervous eyes.

"Mickey?" Ian questioned wondering why he was so dressed up. Mickey didn't say a word. He stepped closer to Ian and stopped in front of him. He gently cradled his arms underneath Ian's body to lift him and Ian grabbed on to Mickey's neck. 

"What's going on?" Mickey ignored him and smiled softly. He carefully stepped up the stairs and made it to his bedroom, the door shut. Ian furrowed his brow. 

"You're not about to torture me or something, are you? I've already had to battle off one psychopath I don't need to-"

Mickey interrupted him with a soft kiss. He slowly pulled away and took a deep breath. "I know we haven't known eachother for very long but uh.." He trailed off and exhaled. He removed one hand that was holding Ian to open the door. Ian was staring into Mickey's eyes like they were magnetically attracted to the man's. Mickey smiled and softly kicked the door shut behind him.

"Merry Christmas, Ian." He said in almost a whisper. Ian furrowed his brow as he saw Mickey's gaze was not on his, but was looking around the room. Ian turned his head slowly to take in Mickey's creation. Ian's heart probably skipped about 90 beats as he took in everything. 

The room had been immaculately cleaned and decorated with hanging blue and gold colored Christmas lights. They hung around the room resembling twinkling stars. Ian moved his gaze across the room to see the decorative fake snow flakes that had hung from the ceiling and hand made paper snowflakes hanging from his walls. It truly looked magical; like a faux winter wonderland. 

"Mickey..." Was all Ian could say, marveling at the man's creation. Mickey walked them over to his dresser that had his iHome on top of it. He pressed play on the song _Lullaby_ by The Spill Canvas, and carried Ian back into the center of the room. He slowly put Ian down so that his feet were on top of Mickey's dress shoes. Mickey held him around the waist, pressed tightly against him so he could also hold Ian up. Ian wrapped his arms around Mickey's neck and started to slowly sway to the music.

Ian looked into his eyes as Mickey lead their slow dance knowing Ian was too weak to move on his own.

"You made all of this?" Ian asked, eyes twinkling and lights reflecting off of them.

Mickey nodded. "Mandy helped too. She did all the cutting, I did the hanging."

"It's absolutely amazing, Mick. You're absolutely amazing."

Ian couldn't stop smiling. He laid his forehead into the crook of Mickey's neck. Mickey felt relieved to know that the redhead didn't think it was lame. He continued to sway them to the song until he mustered up even more courage. 

"I know that this is really, really soon.. Like entirely crazy soon. But I don't want to keep wondering what life is like not being your boyfriend anymore.." Mickey trailed off and swallowed nervously. 

Ian lifted his head to look at Mickey. "Are you asking to be my boyfriend?"

Mickey blushed and looked down. "Well I mean, only if you want to. Like I said, it's crazy and a bit reckless especially how you just jumped into a relationship."

"I want this. I want us. You're it for me, Mick. You make me want to do crazy things in the best way possible."

Mickey chuckled. "The crazy shit love makes a person do, huh?"

Ian laughed and leaned his forehead against Mickey's as they continued to sway in their own wonderland. 

Mickey's phone started buzzing, but they were too consumed in one another to notice. It continued to buzz and Mickey finally looked up, ignoring it. This moment was everything to him. He'd deal with the stupid bullshit another time. He moved his gaze back to the perfect human being holding on to him, counting his lucky stars wondering how he could have possibly ended up with someone that was truly made for him. _His forever._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not crying, _you're_ crying. :')


	30. Here's to Forever

The early morning light began to break through the curtains as Mickey's eyes fluttered open. He had his arm still wrapped around Ian's body, Ian holding on to the arm while he was sleeping. Mickey felt whole. He also realized as he looked at the clock reading 7:15am, that he'd slept more than three hours for the first time in years. He smiled, trying to close his eyes to think about his magical night he had with his boyfriend until his phone buzzed.

He opened his eyes and sighed remembering that he didn't check it last night either. He slowly removed himself from Ian and got out of bed. He threw on some sweatpants and grabbed his phone, heading down the stairs. Mandy was already up making breakfast. She turned around to face her brother grinning. 

"Merry Christmas! How was your night? Did he love it or what? Is it safe to say I'm going to be a maid of honor soon?"

"Jesus, Mandy. It's too early for this shit." He said as she pouted, nosey about his night with Ian.

"Okay but seriously, did he like it?"

"If I tell you yes will you shut the fuck up already?"

She nodded and he rolled his eyes. 

"Christ - yes. Okay? Had the best night of my life and I'm pretty sure he did too."

Mandy dramatically inhaled and put her hand over her heart. Mickey flipped her off and sat on the tall stool at the kitchen island. He pulled out his phone and saw that he had 5 missed calls from Paco. He sighed and Mandy looked at him with cautious eyes.

"He called me too. We should have thought this through. It is true that we were defending ourselves and I just wish we had proof that Chris was trying to set him up."

Mickey brought his hand up to run his fingers through his hair in aggravation. He dialed the number as Mandy watched him intently and put the phone up to his ear, bracing himself for whatever his boss was about to say.

******************************

Ian woke up still smiling from the night before. It _was_ the best night of his life. He felt unbelievably sore so he grabbed the bottle of pills and and popped some into his mouth washing it down with the water bottle that was on the night stand. He was able to move his body better, but wasn't completely healed yet. The nurse did tell him it could take 4-6 days. He sighed and slowly sat up. His phone started to vibrate so he reached over to the night stand to see it was a phone call.

"Hello?" He answered in a sleepy voice.

"Merry Christmas, Ian!" He heard multiple voices screaming over the phone and he couldn't help but smile.

"Merry Christmas, guys." He replied.

"I know this is really last minute but do you want to come over for Christmas dinner tonight? I know I've been dropping the ball for the last few years but I wanted this year to be special. Lip left to go to you apartment ten minutes ago so he should be there soon. Stopped snowing this morning finally."

Ian looked around the room at the wonderland that was still up and smiled. "Actually, Fi, I'm not home. I uh.. met a guy."

"What!" She screamed loudly into the phone and Ian has to pull it away from his face for a moment. "And I'm just hearing about this now?"

"I know I know I'm sorry. He's really great, Fi. I'm at his place now but I bet we could come for dessert tonight. Introduce him to you guys."

"Yes! Tell him we're very excited to meet him! What's his name?"

"Mickey"

Fiona paused. "Milkovich?"

"Uh yeah. It's a long story. But anyway, Fi, I gotta go. I'll text you when we're on the way tonight. Love you guys. Merry Christmas."

"Love you too! See you later."

Ian hung up the phone and his stomach fluttered with butterflies. He was nervous but excited to finally bring a guy over to meet his family. This would be the first time ever introducing a guy to them. He exhaled and slowly tried to pull himself up to head to the bathroom to take a shower and start the day. 

******************************

"Yes Paco. I know you tried calling me five times. It's Christmas for Christ sakes."

"Mikhailo, Chris is dead and you're just going to act normal about it like nothing ever happened? You know he was my number one. Now you're my number one which means I say 'jump' and you say 'how fucking high'."

"Well what do you want me to do then? He ain't rising from the dead anytime soon so you better just get that thought out of your head."

"You with the jokes..." Paco trailed off and then went silent momentarily. "I know your sister killed him. I also know about the kid. I do believe it when I heard it was out of self defense but you need to gain my trust back. Convince me."

Mickey paused, biting the inside of his cheek. He wasn't sure if Paco would believe him or not but it was worth a shot. 

"It was self defense. Truly. But he was plotting against you. Against _us._ He was way too dangerous to be left alive."

Paco sighed heavily into the phone. "I know."

"You know what?"

"I knew about his little scheme so that they wouldn't kill the boy. That's the difference between you and Chris. He was fearless and stupid. Even sloppy. You are not as fearless but smart. I suppose I'd take brains over stupidity. I just liked how he was a crazy motherfucker and would literally do anything I ask."

Paco pause again before speaking. "The boy knows too much. We have to-"

"No. We're not fucking killing him, Paco. I love him."

"What? No, you didn't let me finish. I was going to say we're going to have to make him join our crew since I already _knew_ he was planning to join anyway."

"Well he wasn't trying to actually join he was trying to fake Chris out so we could stop him."

"Yes I know that. It proves loyalty which is what we're about. Bring him here as soon as you can so I can meet him and have Brad ink him."

"The fuck? How do you know everything? And we can't ink him he just had a blood transfusion yesterday. Christ."

"I know. Don't you ever forget, I know _everything_ when it comes to my crew. He'll be fine he's not a fragile doll or something."

Mickey sighed. "Fuckin fine. We'll be over soon and then I want the week off. He needs time to heal and I need to be there for him."

"You think you run things all of a sudden?"

"Yup. Stepping up for Chris, remember?" Mickey said sarcastically.

Paco laughed dryly. "See you soon." He hung up and looked up at Mandy's wide eyes.

"So what's the verdict?" She asked. 

"Ian's still gotta join but Paco doesn't want him dead. He appreciates Ian's loyalty so I think that saved his ass. We gotta go over right now. Wanna come?"

"Sure! Just gotta change and wrap this shit up for the others when they come down for breakfast. Oh and need to wake up Jimmy to tell him I'm leaving and to wait in bed for me." She wiggled her eyebrows.

Mickey rolled his eyes and went upstairs to wake his _boyfriend._ He heard the shower running in the bathroom and knocked on the door guessing it was Ian.

"Yeah?" Ian called out, standing under the hot beads of water. Mickey opened the door and shut it behind him.

"We've gotta go to Paco's after you shower. Still need to go forward and shit with becoming one of us. I'm really sorry Ian-"

"Wanna join?" Ian interrupted, sticking his head out of the shower curtain. He had a feeling the day he found out about Mickey being a criminal and knowing how he felt about the man that he'd never be able to avoid this lifestyle. He also never wanted to. It was just a matter of time before he would be part of their crew.

Mickey grinned and began stripping his clothes off to join his boyfriend in the shower. 

*******************************

They arrived to to the hideout and Ian's stomach rumbled. He wasn't sure if it was due to nerves or that he was starving. He shook it off and looked at Mickey. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified right now."

"We'll be in there too. We won't let him hurt you." Mandy interjected. Ian nodded.

"Can we stop off at my apartment on the way home? I need to get some clothes." He said looking down at his attire that came from Chris' closet. 

"Tone and the boys are already on it. They're probably breaking in as we speak and getting all your shit. You could live with us, if you'd like."

Ian smiled widely and nodded. His nerves went away just slightly as he now was looking forward to living at Mickey's. He soon snapped out of the small happy place once Mandy began to step out of the car. 

"It's gonna be okay." Mickey assured him. Ian nodded and got out of the car. His strength was definitely getting better, though he was still pretty slow.

They entered the hideout to see Paco and Brad already at the table. Brad was just another one of his henchmen. The three of them sat down as Paco's gaze never left Mickey's. 

It was awkwardly silent until Paco adjusted his seat and moved his gaze to Ian. "So.. Tell me about yourself, Ian."

Ian shot a look at Mickey. The latter nodded indicating it was okay.

"It's okay. I'm not gonna bite." Paco said, though he just looked like a scary person to Ian. 

"I um.. my name's Ian Gallagher. I was born on the Southside of a Chicago and have lived their ever since. I have five siblings. I used to be an EMT... That's all I've got for you, sir."

Paco grinned at Mandy and Mickey and let out a laugh. " _Sir._ I love it. I love this kid already." He said as Mickey and Mandy chuckled knowing they never referred to Paco as 'sir'.

"So five siblings, huh? I'm one of seven and also from the Southside. Shit can be tough." Paco said with genuine eyes.

Ian nodded. "Shit can be tough."

"You protected my crew and risked your life. Chris was a wild card, for sure. But you still protected my crew knowing the consequences of what could happen. For that, I am grateful. Brad here is going to mark your wrist with a small v indicating you're one of us. I look forward to working with you, Ian Gallagher. Mick can give you a rundown of everything later on. And you two have the week off but after that, you're both back on the grind."

"Thank you, sir." Ian said.

"Shit, I'll never get tired of that." Paco bellowed out and laughed. He stood up and placed a hand on Ian's shoulder. "Thank you for helping us. I loved Chris like he was my own son. It hurt me to know he was playing us but I'm glad we had you to help. Who knows what could have happened."

Ian shrugged the thought away not wanting to be reminded of any memories of Chris anymore. Brad moved closer to start the tattoo gun and Mark Ian's wrist. After Brad was finished, Ian looked down at the small tattoo and felt all different emotions waving over him. His thoughts were interrupted by Mandy.

"Welcome to our crew, newbie."

Mickey rolled his eyes at her and they stood up to leave. Paco nodded his head at them before saying, "Have a Merry Christmas, guys."

They smiled and started their way back home so Mandy could start cooking their traditional Christmas dinner.

******************************

Mickey started the car, looking out into the night sky. Ian limped his way over to sit in the passenger side. Mickey tossed his cigarette out the window and began to take off. 

"They're gonna love You, Mick." Ian assured as Mickey nervously grabbed another cigarette and lit it.

"Dinner was really nice. Mandy's an awesome cook."

Mickey continued to drive in silence feeling like he was going to throw up. He definitely wasn't used to all of this, but knew he'd need to get used to it. Ian opened his mouth again to try and break the silence when Mickey turned on the radio to some Christmas music. Ian narrowed his eyes at Mickey. 

"Trying to drown me out, I see."

"You talk too fuckin much." Mickey teased and Ian flipped him off.

They made it to the front of Fiona's house and Mickey lost all color in his face. He didn't move as Ian started to unbuckled and reach for the lemon meringue pie that Mandy volunteered to bake for him to bring. Ian put the pie back down momentarily to put a hand on his boyfriend's arm. 

"Hey. It's gonna be okay. I just had to go meet a fucking badass gangster. You can handle my siblings." Ian said jokingly. Mickey sighed and nodded. He got out of the car and took the pie for Ian. They made it up the steps and knocked on the door.

Fiona answered immediately wearing a Santa hat and her eyes lit up once she saw her brother. She squeezed him into an embrace and he groaned in pain. She jumped back startled by the groaning. She actually looked at him and saw the cuts and bandages. 

"Shit Ian. Are you okay?"

"Yeah I was out with a friend from work and we got into a car accident. It wasn't anything too serious and I told Mickey not to call you."

Fiona narrowed her eyes at her brother. "Typical." Her eyes moved to Mickey's and her face immediately softened. 

"You must be Mickey! I'm Fiona his _favorite_ sister."

Mickey shook her hand with his free one that wasn't holding the pie.

A redheaded girl who was also wearing a Santa hat appeared in the door way. " _I'm_ actually his favorite sister. I'm Debbie, nice to meet you." She said. Ian laughed and rolled his eyes.

Mickey nervously nodded and Fiona took the pie. They walked inside and headed to the kitchen where the rest of his brothers were. Ian limped inside and greeted them, Mickey following close behind. Lip looked up at Mickey and tensed. 

"Shit." Lip muttered under his breath.

"Babe what's wrong?" Karen asked as Lip stared at the Milkovich with wide eyes.

Mickey recognized Lip and smirked sensing the man's fear.

"How's it going, Lip." Mickey pressed, thinking it was hilarious to make him squirm.

Lip inhaled and stood up. "I'm going out for a butt. Karen wanna join?"

She furrowed her brow and stood up to go, flirtatiously waving to Mickey before being dragged out.

Fiona sighed. "I told him he's gonna catch an STD being with Karen Jackson but he doesn't listen."

Ian chuckled and they sat down to catch up with Fiona and his other siblings. Mickey started to finally relax realizing it wasn't so bad.

********************************

They had left the Gallagher home around 9:30pm to head back to their own home. Ian had fallen asleep as Mickey sped down the highway. He replayed all of their memories together in his head over the course of the last month and shook his head in wonder. He never thought he'd ever fall in love with anyone. Never thought he'd ever have a boyfriend. And he also never thought he'd be able to finally be free.

Ian Gallagher was his freedom and vice versa. He looked down at the love of his life who was peacefully sleeping and he smiled. Ian was his forever. 

"I love you, Ian." Mickey whispered, focusing his eyes back on the road.

Ian smiled, waking up momentarily. "I love you too, Mickey." He whispered and adjusted himself in the seat to fall back asleep.

Mickey knew down the road things may get tough, but they could handle anything together. Mickey kept his eyes on the road and whispered, "Here's to our forever."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you all so much for taking the time to read my stories! I truly appreciate the feedback and kudos you've given me and can't wait to write more!!
> 
> Thank you!❤


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